Warriors suffer second straight loss

The Warriors have fallen to their second straight loss in a winnable NRL game, going down 24-19 to the Newcastle Knights at Mount Smart Stadium.

The home side led 18-nil after 20 minutes, before Wayne Bennett's men found their way back into the contest.

Warriors coach Brian McClennan says as soon as they were tested, they folded.

"As soon as it went to any form of arm wrestle, we got worse ... in our attack structure and worse in our defence. They would carry the ball and land on their fronts and we'd carry the ball and land on our back."

He says it was an atrocious performance.

"It's extremely disappointing, we were just so flat out there it just compounded and just got worse as we went on and we hardly got up in their half in the second half."

The Warriors now have massive injury concerns, with captain Simon Mannering taking a leg injury as well as Steve Rapira and wing Manu Vatuvei withdrawing before kickoff.

Meanwhile, Parramatta have handed outgoing coach Stephen Kearney the best farewell present he could have hoped for with an upset 16-10 win over Melbourne.

South Sydney's thrashed St George-Illawarra 36-14.

Photo: Photosport