Knights to investigate vile death threats and online abuse

Knights winger James Schiller has called out vile online abuse and death threats he was subjected to after his side's incredible comeback win against Manly.

The Knights overcame a 16-point half-time deficit to beat the Sea Eagles and send the match to golden point.

From there, captain Kalyn Ponga scored a try to secure the 26-22 victory in front of the Knights fans at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Schiller endured a difficult first half against the Sea Eagles with Reuben Garrick and Haumole Olakau’atu causing him all sorts of trouble.

But a win is a win.

Unfortunately one so-called fan did not see things that way and targeted Schiller on social media with abhorrent messages.

Disgusted by the comments, Knights coach Adam O'Brien said the club's welfare department had stepped in to care for Schiller and said it was not an isolated incident.

"That’s worrying," he said of the death threats. "For him to go through that over a couple of errors, it’s a game of footy. He has a family.

"We’ve definitely talked to him about that ad the team has got around him.

"It’s a society problem it's not just football players that go through this stuff. At the moment it’s in the hands of authorities to try and help.

"Ultimately, we have to be able to stop people from doing it.

"We have a strong welfare department that specialises in this and they’re vital in this circumstance.

"I understand people’s frustrations but there’s a right way of doing it. Some of the threats and the language used, these are human beings our players."

SEN’s Andrew Voss and Matty Russell could hardly believe what they witnessed during Thursday night’s match between Manly and Newcastle.

The turnaround was considerable given Newcastle has struggled to score all season. The Knights are currently 17th in points scored despite having played one or in some cases two more games than the rest of the competition.

It left Russell and Voss to wonder what actually happened for the Knights to produce this result with Russell still in disbelief.

“Has there been a bigger contrast between the first and second halves by a team in terms of attack?” Russell said on SEN 1170’s Breakfast.

Voss, however, puts Newcastle’s turnaround down to a moment at the start of the second half as the Sea-Eagles tried to put the game beyond doubt.

“They flicked a switch,” Voss explained.

“Manly (were) so on top, 16-nil to start the second half and Daly Cherry-Evans pulls the trigger on a 40/20 attempt early in the count. Nails it.

“But ball came short of the 20-metre line by deadset two centimetres. It was the right call by the touch judge but definitely didn’t go.

“In the next set, in about play three, suddenly they (Newcastle) had depth and speed and went left and Dylan Lucas on the left edge went, ‘Oh gee, that looked good’.

“Then they went right…and then on the third play, they score a 50 metre try.

“And from there, they never stopped.

“Now incredibly last night for a team that scored 26 second-half points, I think by the end of the game, they only had 11 tackles inside Manly’s 20 all night.

“So, all their attacking clicked from long range which was quite incredible.

“I can’t think of a greater contrast.”