The honeymoon period is well and truly over for Mitchell Pearce and the Newcastle Knights after being handed a 38-8 lesson by the Sydney Roosters to fall to their first loss of the NRL season.
The Knights entered Allianz Stadium with their tails up following two straight wins to start 2018, but Pearce's former side were quick to send the visitors back up the F3 with a comprehensive defeat.
Knights coach Nathan Brown admitted anticipating some poor results against some of the better teams in the competition, but lamented his men being beaten on effort.
"It's more disappointing as far as little effort areas, they were better than us in that area," Brown said.
"We've got to be open-minded that we're going to come into some (difficult) contests. We'd like to have done a lot better today. I thought physically at times we handled them really well.
"We've still got some players that have come through who are used to losing, who don't play like winners consistently enough. They've got to learn to win and with the players we've bought from good clubs.
"That'll happen over time."
Brown also said the Roosters showed why they are considered premiership favourites in a highly-anticipated game due to the context surrounding Pearce's exit from the club in favour of Cooper Cronk.
"They handled it well, you could tell by the score," Brown said.
"There was obviously a lot of pressure on the Roosters with what they've brought in. If they don't win the comp, people are going to be saying it's not good enough. But it's bloody hard to win a comp.
"They showed today that they are a good club and the blokes they brought in are good players."
The round began with an underwhelming grand final re-match between Melbourne and North Queensland, where a high penalty count of 19 overshadowed the Storm's 30-14 win.
Officiating also stole the headlines 24 hours later, when referee Ashley Klein awarded Brisbane a match-deciding penalty in Brisbane's 9-7 golden point win over the Wests Tigers.
There were some positive storylines across the weekend, with rookie coaches Dean Pay and Anthony Seibold claiming their first wins at their respective clubs.
Pay's Canterbury side edged Penrith 20-18 in a game where star Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for 10 weeks.
It was far more comfortable for Seibold's South Sydney outfit, who upset Manly 34-6 in the first match of a double-header at a wet ANZ Stadium.
Cronulla ensured Parramatta remained winless with a 14-4 victory in the second match, with Eels star Jarryd Hayne also limped off after a bizarrely hurting his hip taking the kickoff.
In Canberra, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart again took aim at the refereeing despite his side blowing a seven-point lead with three minutes to go against the Warriors to go down by one.
In the only other result, St George Illawarra captain Gareth Widdop put on a masterclass as the Dragons maintained their spot at the top of the table with a 54-8 pummelling of Gold Coast in Toowoomba.
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