Rugby league legend Peter Sterling said he's close to writing off the Newcastle Knights' chances of a finals berth in 2021.<\/p>\n
The Hunter-based club were a popular candidate by many to make a big leap forward in 2021, but a lacklustre past six weeks and some injuries to key players over the course of the season have left them outside the eight and up against the wall.<\/p>\n
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"They've been awful for a while now," Sterling told Wide World of Sports' Sterlo's Wrap<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n "I had really high hopes for them – I thought they were a top eight side for sure."<\/p>\n Sterling highlighted basic errors from several Newcastle players, especially in kick defence, in the early exchanges of the Knights heavy loss to the Roosters<\/a> as a very negative sign of the attitudes around the club.<\/p>\n "You just can't give up points like that – and on the back of the Mitchell Pearce injury<\/a>, they just haven't recovered. And if they don't soon, the top eight are going to be in the distance."<\/p>\n A Blake Green injury will see yet another reshuffle in the halves this week for Adam O'Brien's men, with either Tex Hoy or Phoenix Crossland set to take the No.7 jersey.<\/p>\n The Knights started the year brightly with back-to-back wins, but have won just one of their last six – and even that was a nailbiter against the Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n It's a pivotal next month for Newcastle, who play four teams outside of the top eight – including the struggling Canberra Raiders this weekend – before a tough six-week stretch that sees them play five of the current top seven, including the Rabbitohs, Roosters and Storm.<\/p>\n They may welcome Pearce back by the tail end of that crunch run, and with the talent on board across the roster, they could easily get their season back on track if they can stay healthy.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"NRL](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/05\/356199\/pickerImage.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Sterlo's](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/05\/356450\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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