KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien has admitted he is concerned about his team's wayward goalkicking as they head into what shapes as another likely tight encounter with Parramatta at CommBank Stadium tonight.
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Newcastle have scored 31 tries for the season, the fifth most in the NRL, which is a vast improvement on last year, when they finished equal 13th on the season's overall tryscoring tally.
But in goalkicking this year, they rank 14th after landing only 21 shots from 34 attempts, at a strike rate of 61.7 per cent.
Halfback Jackson Hastings and fullback Lachlan Miller have shared the role with similar success.
Hastings has kicked eight from 13 (61.5 per cent), while Miller has been on target with 13 from 21 attempts (61.9 per cent).
The best kickers in the competition usually operate at upwards of 80 per cent.
Newcastle have lost their past two games, against North Queensland and Penrith, by two points and one point respectively, while they drew with Manly in round five.
In all three games, more accurate goalkicking might have made a difference for Newcastle.
O'Brien said he was "certainly concerned" with Newcastle's goalkicking statistics but was hopeful practice would make perfect.
"They are working extremely hard," O'Brien said.
"They are putting hours and hours a week into the goalkicking, and the frustrating thing for both Jackson and Lachy is that they're kicking them well in training, and they're taking that into the games.
"There are certainly other factors, in terms of wind and they haven't always been easy.
"But there's no doubt that we'd like to be going up in sixes."
Hastings is by far the more experienced sharpshooter of their pair, kicking 47 goals from 63 attempts across his NRL career, at 74.6 per cent.
But the playmaker has admitted he is still troubled by the broken leg he sustained late last year playing for Wests Tigers, so Miller will again handle the job against Parramatta.
"Lachy Miller will start," O'Brien said.
"He's the one that has probably done the most practice this week. We've lightened Jackson's load."
Tonight's match shapes as crucial for both teams, given that the Knights (seven points) are 12th on the ladder, one point and position above the Eels.
Whoever loses could potentially find themselves three wins outside the top eight.
Parramatta have dominated the Knights in recent times, winning the past five clashes between the two sides by a collective scoreline of 137-44.
The past four of those games have put O'Brien up against his former mentor, Eels coach Brad Arthur.
"We're great mates ... he's got the wood over us, but how much impact we have over the 80 minutes, I'm not too sure," O'Brien said.
"But yeah, I'd love to get one back on him."
