KNIGHTS coach Brian Smith made no excuses for his team's loss to the Tigers yesterday. He has clearly warmed to the Newcastle tradition of putting in until it hurts a lot and was disappointed the Knights didn't do enough to ensure they were the last men standing.

There were ready-made excuses, had Smith chosen to use them. NSW representatives Danny Buderus and Ben Cross were missing, Kurt Gidley was injured and back-up hooker Matt Hilder was suspended. Plus, the Knights were backing up from a brutal Monday night game on the road against Melbourne.

But Smith said the loss came down to what Newcastle did - or rather, didn't do - on the day.

"'Simmo' [Knights forward Steve Simpson] says it was a frustrating game to play in, and, from a coach's point of view, it was a frustrating game to watch," Smith said.

"We didn't do the things we had been working hard to achieve in our own game. We lacked intensity and consistency. It ended up a blow-out game for us and we hadn't had any of those this year, so that's disappointing. It just felt like a game where, if you could get your stuff together, we could have managed to win it.

"Collectively, as a unit, we didn't get that intensity and steely resolve going in our game or that willingness to do a bit extra for your mates, and if you don't get that, you run the risk of losing, no matter who you play."

Simpson said the Knights had also executed poorly. After hitting the lead for the first time early in the second half, Newcastle conceded the next 22 points.

Still, there's the Origin issue: some teams, such as the Knights, are simply hit harder by the withdrawal of their representative players. The Tigers, by contrast, didn't lose any players to the state camps. Asked if he thought State of Origin games would one day be given their own weekends, Smith said: "It won't change. Until [Channel] Nine or someone decides that Origin would be a better ratings winner on a Sunday afternoon, it's not going to change. How can you expect Melbourne to go in without their best nine players and win? It isn't perfect - it's just how it is. It's a futile argument that chief executives and people at the top of the pile should deal with, if they feel like dealing with it.

"It's ludicrous. The NRL isn't a fair competition. You play at times when you get a Monday night game and back up, we don't play everyone twice It's Russian roulette."

Greg Prichard