Knights coach Adam O'Brien says he understands if there are people who aren't willing to stick by the club after his side slumped to their seventh loss of the season in Townsville on Thursday night.
"But at the same time, I'd like to think our supporters would be able to keep in perspective the youth we have on the field at the moment and the calibre of the players that are missing when making any judgments on us," he said.
"I know they are excuses and I don't like making them but they are also the reality.
"We had four kids in that backline in Phoenix [Crossland], Star [To'a], Muzzy [Brayden Musgrove] and Simi [Sasagi] who'd be lucky to have played 30 games between them.
"Simi has only played a handful of games in the past few years. And we had one of the comp's most experienced halfbacks and arguably one of the best fullbacks in the game out.
"But at the end of the day, even though help is coming, we still need to do better and not simply wait for that help to arrive.
"We have to get better and it's my job to coach the young guys so that they can handle what's thrown at them at this level.
"No-one is more aware than me the pressure that's on us and it's going to keep coming until we get more wins on the board. That's the reality and we have to deal with it.
"I'm not walking away from it. No-one in this joint is walking away from it because it's a bit too hard. We'll keep fighting and to those people who are sticking by us and supporting us, know you are appreciated."
The Knights are expected to be boosted next week by the return of Kalyn Ponga and centre Bradman Best for the clash with Manly at McDonald Jones Stadium after they both missed the 36-20 loss to the Cowboys.
But former skipper Mitchell Pearce is not due back from his ruptured pec until at least the Knights' round 14 clash against South Sydney and may be held back until a week later against the Warriors. Injured wingers Edrick Lee and Hymel Hunt are not expected back on deck in the near future either.
Over the next three weeks, the side faces tough assignments against the Eagles and then Parramatta on Old Boys' Day at home before the Souths clash away. Three defeats would leave them a lot of work to do to even be challenging for a place in the bottom of the eight at the back end.
After an arduous three games in 13 days on the road, the players have been given the weekend off and will be nursed through the early part of next week leading into the Manly game.
