Newcastle coach Justin Holbrook has given high praise to skipper Kalyn Ponga for his commitment to the Knights, despite the star fullback’s uncharacteristically poor kicking game costing the side a victory against Cronulla.

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The Knights lost 20-18 against the Sharks in sodden conditions on Friday night, despite scoring outscoring the home side four tries to three.

An ever-philosophical Holbrook was quick to praise Ponga, who in recent weeks has been huge for both the Maroons and for Newcastle during consecutive losses.

“We’ve got a really good footy side here and poor Kalyn – that’s three games in nine days. That’s a lot to ask of anybody, let alone your best player,” Holbrook said.

“For him to get himself up to play tonight and for us to come here and outscore them, you’re probably unlucky to win the game. I thought we did enough. It’s hard to swallow because we expect a lot of our team now.”

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Despite a huge workload, Ponga was again highly influential for the Knights in the top eight clash, offering safety under the highball, as well as plenty of danger in attack. The 28-year-old finished the game with one try, 13 runs for 130 metres, six tackle breaks and one line break.

The skipper was unperturbed about his kicking – despite a regular conversion rate of about 76 per cent for Newcastle.

“I feel pretty good. We lost and that makes things worse but it’s more of a mental thing, getting up for a game after Origin and the five-day turnaround. It’s all mental, physically you’ve just got to make sure you get everything right and I’ve got enough support from staff and everyone around me to get everything right. But I’m fine,” he said.

Now in his 11th season in the NRL, Ponga is well accustomed to putting in the minutes and has been worth his weight in gold for Newcastle when healthy this year.

He shook off any concerns about his workload in recent weeks.

“Everyone is different on recovery. I think getting your recovery right and getting away from the game – I know that sounds weird – but getting away from the game and freshening you up is sort of what I try and do,” he said.

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Holbrook was left to rue what could have been as his side slipped to seventh on the NRL ladder. But there were green shoots from the Knights according to their coach, especially since it was just the sixth game this year that Newcastle has started with their preferred spine – and in a match where Sandon Smith didn’t take the field due to limited interchanges.

“We’re confident we’d play well and get the win but we weren’t and we’ve got to stick at it. There’s still a lot of games to go but it’s hard to take at the moment,” Holbrook said.

“I’m frustrated at the moment and I was last week. That’s up to me to handle. You want to win, and I think we created enough chances to do that. That’s why it’s disappointing, if we’d come here and got beat convincingly you can’t get frustrated by that. But we’re doing enough to get there.

“We’ve got to get on with it. There’s a lot of belief in this team.”

Thankfully for Ponga and his Knights teammates, the NRL calendar is slightly more favourable in timings in the weeks ahead.

Newcastle have a week to recover ahead of their Round 21 match against the Roosters (Friday July 24, 6pm) and a further eight-day turnaround before their Round 22 match against Brisbane (Saturday August 1, 7.35pm).