Anyway, here we are at McDonald Jones Stadium watching the Knights get pipped by the Chooks in a thriller, and as the Novocastrian faithful head home fuming about the referee, skipper Kalyn Ponga provides some light relief in a post-match interview.

Asked by Channel Nine's Danika Mason about a hip injury he battled throughout the match, KP declares: "I was never going to pull myself off."

Danika has a little giggle, and I find myself wondering if this is what is known as a Freudian slip.

Then, at the post-match press conference, Knights coach Adam O'Brien asks if I can "write something positive" about the character his weary troops have shown after playing three games in 12 games.

I promise him I'll do my best.

But, to be honest, positive stories aren't my forte. I'm an old muck-raker from way back. Give me a sordid, grubby scandal any day of the week.

I NOTE with interest reports that embattled Bunnies coach Jason Demetriou has cut short a press conference after answering four questions in the space of 27 seconds.

I realise it can't be much fun being used as a human pinata, but I reckon he could have handled this one a bit better.

Just a polite request along the lines of: "Hey guys, I know I'm probably going to get sacked next week, but can you write something positive please?"

Meanwhile, up in Brisbane, the Old Fox gets the irrits when the media quiz him about his plans for next year.

"I don't know what I want to be," he tells one journalist. "Make me an offer. I might want to do your job."

Yeah sure. Good luck getting that long streak of misery to write a positive yarn.

IT'S not the first time a Knights coach has left me querying my own positivity, or lack thereof.

Back in 2017, Nathan Brown suggested at a press conference that, for a change, I might "write something nice about us".

At the time, Browny's record as Newcastle's head coach was three wins, one draw and 38 losses.

I mean, fair dinkum. I'm not a bloody miracle worker.

LIKE an old bull elephant, David Klemmer can carry a grudge. A couple of years back, he threatened to tear Zac Lomax a new one after the Dragons centre took some liberties with Klemmer's then Knights teammate Tyson Frizell.

At Campbelltown today, the Wests Tigers enforcer continues the feud by trying to decapitate Lomax with a high shot straight out of the Les Boyd coaching manual. Somehow big Klem avoids both a send-off and a suspension. Instead he cops a $1000 fine, which I bet he reckons is worth every cent.

SPECULATION mounts about where big Josh Schuster might wind up, having been told to move on by the Silvertails, despite a long-term contract worth about $800 large a year.

Good luck to Manly trying to get a decent trade-in. He might as well come with a "buyer beware" sticker.

It wasn't that long ago rugby league's highest-paid reserve-grader declared: "I always believed that one day I would be the best player in the game."

I guess, if nothing else, he gets full marks for positive thinking.

DESPITE suggestions that he was a dead man walking if his team did not win against Cronulla last weekend, Jason Demetriou appears to be still gainfully employed.

I was interested to see big Mal Meninga on Foxtel on the weekend, declaring he was "so sorry for poor old Jason Demetriou", whose prognosis appears bleak.

Not sorry enough, however, to resist confirming that he will be interested in the job if and when Souths wield the axe.

AS I have discussed previously, nothing annoys me more than grubs who allow their dogs to desecrate the local footy oval.

Today I am horrified to read a Daily Telegraph story that reveals: "Nearly 60 per cent of dog owners admitted if they could walk off without cleaning up after their pet they would." As stated on this page previously, it's time to bring back capital punishment.