PENRITH coach Matthew Elliott has blamed himself for his side's meek showing against a Kurt Gidley-inspired Newcastle at CUA Stadium on Friday night.

The Panthers let slip a golden opportunity to shore up a spot in the eight in their 30-18 loss to the injury-plagued Knights. And Elliott said he had to take responsibility for their lack of intensity, only five days after an impressive win against Parramatta.

"I have to look at the stuff I did as a coach and look at our program because there is definitely something wrong with what we did in our [short] week," he said. "I definitely did something wrong."

Elliott said he could accept that some players could be off their game, but not the entire side.

"When your whole team is down, I have to accept responsibility that something in our preparation was not right," he said.

"I thought [the Knights] came and played a really good game of footy and had a great plan. When your attitude is better than the opposition, your plan inevitably works."

Brian Smith's men tested out Penrith rookies Wade Graham and Lachlan Coote with some heavy hits during the game, but their performances were still solid behind a beaten pack.

"I thought our young players were pretty good tonight," Elliott said in a sign that he will keep faith in the duo for the away clash with the Titans on Saturday.

The result snapped a three-game losing streak for the Knights and breathed new life into their season.

"This game keeps us in the pack, we are not far away [from the eight]," Smith said. "I don't mean it is any guarantee, [but] we have some terrific games coming up."

Newcastle will play Cronulla at Toyota Stadium on Saturday.