Knights lock Herman Ese'ese has welcomed the short turnaround to face his former club Brisbane as he looks to make up for a costly lapse early in the loss to Melbourne on Saturday night.
Newcastle take on the 12th-placed Broncos on Thursday night at Central Coast Stadium to start round six, five days after their first defeat of the season at the same venue.
The Knights went down 26-12 to the Storm after trailing 18-0 just before half-time.
Coach Adam O'Brien lamented the lack of intensity from his side early in the forwards battle.
He was also critical of a lack of urgency from Newcastle when Melbourne halfback Ryley Jacks scored in the fourth minute and their poor defence to allow Brandon Smith to muscle over in the 77th.
For the opening try, winger Josh Addo-Carr chipped the ball infield from the left touchline into an unmanned Knights in-goal. Ese'ese was the nearest Knight to the ball but Jacks narrowly beat him to it after the lock was slow to react.
"I think as soon as I seen the ball go into the in-goal, and when I realised I was the closest one, that I should have been more urgent there," Ese'ese said.
"But in saying that, it was very quiet, I didn't hear anyone coming behind me, or when it got tipped on, I was just hoping someone was behind me.
"I didn't hear until last minute Jacks' footsteps behind me and that's when I tried to be more urgent but I should have been more urgent from the start."
Ese'ese was pleased with his defence overall in the game but he was keen to make amends for his errors against the Broncos.
"I was pretty happy with how I defended, [but] I know I can do better," he said.
"It's a short turnaround, which is good for me. I just can't wait any longer. I just want to get back out there and correct all the mistakes from the previous game."
Given the brief preparation for the Brisbane clash, O'Brien may look to make changes and freshen his squad.
Ese'ese has started in every match this season except for the draw with Penrith and he was keen to stay in the run-on side.
"It's definitely one of my goals to earn a starting spot but even coming off the bench, whatever is best for the team, I'll definitely roll with it," he said.
Adam knows we well. He knows what I can offer, both starting and coming off the bench, so I trust him to make the right choice.
"It's a short turnaround but we've been doing a lot of recovery. Straight after the Melbourne Storm game we got back to Mayfield and did pool recovery, and the day after we did more recovery, so the body is feeling up to it and I just can't wait."
Off contract this year, Ese'ese was one of the Knights' best in the win over the Raiders in round four and he has breathed new life into his career under O'Brien.
Used mostly off the bench last year by Nathan Brown, Ese'ese looked set to leave the club before O'Brien made it known he was part of his plans.
Ese'ese was happy with how his season was going but said "I'm just trying to take it one game at a time".
"Adam and Dave Furner and the rest of the coaching staff, they've been really helpful," he said.
"It's been a good year so far but it's still early days so I just want to keep my head down and keep working hard."
And the focus this week was a better start against Brisbane. The Broncos suffered a record 59-0 loss to the Roosters in round four but they bounced back to lead Manly 18-0 before going down 20-18 last week.
"One of our key focuses coming into the Broncs game is starting off fast, getting the roll on quick and defending well our first couple of sets," Ese'ese said. "And we definitely need to start fast and start strong against this young pack."
"They are a young team and they've been pretty unlucky in the last games, and I think they will definitely come out firing this game.
"Having a few old faces in our squad, including Macca [Andrew McCullough], myself, Gehamat [Shibasaki] and Tautau [Moga] ... I guess we'll look to have a big game against them."
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