Newcastle Knights legend Andrew Johns has blasted his former team after a disappointing 43-12 loss against the Parramatta Eels on Friday.
Currently, a coaching consultant at the Knights, Johns, admitted that the team's defence was absolutely woeful and that the Eels could have easily scored another 20-30 points against them.
In a worrying statistic for the Knights, they allowed 13 line breaks and missed a total of 61 tackles on the defensive end.
This allowed Clinton Gutherson and Mitchell Moses to run wild against them; Gutherson ended the game with a hat-trick and 192 running metres.
"I actually watched the game back," Johns said on Nine'sย The Sunday Footy Show.
"Parramatta should have scored another five tries, they bombed certain tries, so the score could have been 70 or 80."
"Just off the pace, so off the pace, it's not funny. Disappointing. They've really competed hard this year. Some of the simple missed tackles ... It's just hard to watch. Just letting them run through."
"(They) showed zero fight."
Billy Slater echoed Johns' statement and discussed that while they have showed grit in previous matches they were embarrassing to watch.
"One thing they have shown over the last month is plenty of fight. The floodgates just opened on them (on Friday night)," Slater said on The Sunday Footy Show.
"Missed tackles, their edges were torn to bits, left and right, and Parramatta were in a mood."
"They took advantage of the lack of desire in Newcastle's defensive line and that's why we see this score."
The Newcastle Knights will have a bye this week before facing the Titans in Round 11.
