O'Brien happy with Knights effort but spine needs to lift Author Share on social media Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien says if his team scrambled like they did in a 24-6 loss to Penrith on Thursday night every week they'd have a couple more wins in the bank by now. O'Brien was pleased with his team's defensive effort overall but frustrated a Penrith scrum play they had practised defending all week still led to points, while he also lamented some poor fifth-tackle options that he said the whole spine needs to work together to improve on. "I thought at half-time they'd done a really, really good job," O'Brien said of his team.