Coach backs Ponga in after Eels belt Knights

Newcastle are adamant Kalyn Ponga is their long-term five-eighth despite a nightmare showing in his new position during the 43-12 loss to Parramatta.

The Knights were resolute in recent tight losses to Penrith and North Queensland but on Friday more closely resembled the team that had been tipped for the wooden spoon in the pre-season.

The majority of traffic went down Ponga's edge, the Queensland representative failing to contain the rampant Eels in his first start since suffering a concussion in round two, and first full game at five-eighth.

Ponga moved from fullback this season in the hope of touching the ball more and while he was quiet in attack against Parramatta, his work in the defensive front-line was of greater concern.

Ponga missed 10 tackles - more than any other Newcastle player - and made only 11.

Will Penisini threatened with every touch of the football and burned Ponga to set out on a line break that would have resulted in a try in the 28th minute, if the centre had support.

Early in the second half, halfback Mitch Moses belted past Ponga just as Penisini did and set Gutherson up for the third try of his hat-trick.

"I've got to own my performance. I'm obviously disappointed with it," Ponga said.

"I'm going to look at it, learn from it.

"This move to six, while I want to be the best now, it's a journey."

Ponga was reluctant to blame the aftershocks of his head knock for his performance, pointing instead to his fitness on his return to the game and the rigours of the positional change.

"I think in terms of my head and the concussion side of things, I'm all right," he said.

"I just need to be better."

Coach Adam O'Brien is backing Ponga despite the tough night.

"It's his third game this year," he said.

"He hadn't finished at six, he played 80 minutes at six, it's his first time. I'm not stupid."

It wasn't just Ponga who struggled defensively; the Eels poked holes in Newcastle' goal-line defence at will as they established a 30-6 halftime lead.

Four of their five first-half tries came from backs barging over at close range.

Gutherson, a fullback who weighs 96kg, twice scored from dummy-half, with Moses and Dylan Brown also strolling onto the scoreboard.

"I didn't see it coming. It was a horrible performance, let's be honest," O'Brien said.

"But they haven't been horrible (this season) so I'm not going to kick them to death, either."

Even without key men Reagan Campbell-Gillard (groin) and Ryan Matterson (illness), Parramatta comfortably won the yardage battle through the middle of CommBank Stadium, J'maine Hopgood and Makahesi Makatoa leading the way.

"I thought we played the power game the best we have all year," Eels coach Brad Arthur said.

No team has registered more than 10 line breaks in a game this season but Parramatta had made that many by the half.

They continued their recent trend of cooling off after establishing first-half leads, becoming a little too cute with their ball movement and finishing with a 66 per cent completion rate.

"We probably left a bit out there," Arthur said.

"But I challenged the forwards about running hard off the back fence and I thought they did that and they paved the way for our speed and our spine."

Adding to Newcastle's concerns, utility Kurt Mann suffered an abdominal injury and did not return after halftime, while Jackson Hastings tweaked his right shoulder but played the game out.