Kalyn Ponga's message to the almost constant questioning of his positional switch to five-eighth could hardly have been any clearer after the Panthers loss.
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"People just need to realise I'm in the halves now and I'm going to be there next week," he said. "I'm still learning but I love the challenge which is what I've always loved about sport or anything I do. I want to be challenged."
The brilliant youngster mirrored his team by producing a mixed bag against the Panthers.
On one of the few occasions he was on the end of a quick play-the-ball with his side on the attack, he fired a pin-point cut-out pass that saw his winger Edrick Lee cross in the corner. But then there was his defensive over-read where he was caught out by James Maloney feigning to kick which resulted in a try to backrower James Fisher-Harris.
His goal-kicking was also up and down. He nailed the sideline conversion to Lee's try in the first half but then right on halftime, missed a relatively easy penalty shot from almost in front which in the wash-up, proved costly.
There is no doubt the Panthers' aggressive defence and line speed, which restricted the Knights yardage gains, made life difficult for Ponga and halves partner Pearce, who were rarely on the front foot all game.
"They spooked us a little bit but then late in the second half, we went back to our structures and it worked," Ponga admitted. "We've just got to do that for 80 minutes and not go away from what we know and do best."
Pearce admitted the side's attack is still a little "clunky".
"They rushed up and troubled us with their line speed and as a whole, they probably came off the back fence a little bit harder than us," he said. "We lacked that tiny little bit of effort that they had. But we still had a couple of opportunities that we should have converted."
The Knights will take positives out of their defence although there was some embarrassment among a few players who failed to stop Isaah Yeo from scoring a crucial try from close range early in the second half.
"We turned them away plenty of times but those couple of lapses defensively were costly in the final result," Aidan Guerra said.