Injured duo Daniel Saifiti and Sione Mata'utia face at least a further week on the sideline and won't be considered for Friday night's clash with the Sharks in a further blow to the Knights following Saturday's dismal capitulation to the Warriors in Tamworth.
The Knights' hopes of a top-four finals finish were dealt a killer blow after they slumped to a humiliating 36-6 defeat.
Down 8-6 at half-time, the Knights gave up 28 unanswered points in the second half to continue their reputation for struggling against teams below them on the competition ladder.
While they would virtually need to fall off a cliff over the next month to miss out on the finals, they will be merely making up the numbers if they take the same lack of attitude, effort and application they showed in Tamworth into the big end-of-season games.
O'Brien was hoping to have both Origin prop Saifiti and back-rower Mata'utia available for the Sharks game but has been told neither will be ready. Adding to the coach's concerns is a sternum and rib injury to lock Mitch Barnett, who needed pain-killers to get on the field in the second half against the Warriors.
"We are a bit banged up but we've got to pick ourselves up and go again," O'Brien said. "Barney will have a light week and hopefully, he'll be right to go."
The warning signs that the Knights hadn't turned up ready to compete hard were there almost from the opening whistle against the Warriors in hot conditions in Tamworth. They were fortunate to go in at half-time only two points in arrears after a mistake-riddled opening 40 minutes saw the Warriors dominate for long periods.
Newcastle's ball control and defensive line speed was found wanting with the Warriors jumping out to an 8-0 advantage off the back of quick play-the-balls and surges from their forwards.
Centre Peta Hiku put his winger Adam Pompey over in the corner for a converted try after eight minutes following two Knights errors in their own half and Chanel Harris-Tavita extended the lead to eight points with a penalty goal 13 minutes in.
At that point, the Knights had only completed four of their first seven sets but almost against the run of play, they hit back. Midway through the half, Mitchell Pearce put up a perfectly placed cross-field kick for his centre Gehamat Shibasaki to out-jump George Jennings to score. Kalyn Ponga converted and it was 8-6.
But the Warriors overall dominance in the first half continued in the second.
Josh King saved a try for the Knights when he somehow managed to prevent Daniel Alvaro from grounding the ball over the line. But the reprieve was short-lived with Warriors skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck stepping inside Pearce to score to stretch the lead to 14-6.
It was a long way back for the Knights at 18-6 when Hiku put Pompey over in the corner.
In the end, it turned into a procession as the Warriors scored three of their five second-half tries in the final 11 minutes.
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