The Kalyn Ponga five-eighth experiment appears looks over after just three NRL games as he retreated to fullback during Newcastle's 17-10 loss to the Raiders in Canberra.
Knights coach Nathan Brown initially resisted the urge to backflip on the tactic, opting to start Kurt Mann at fullback at GIO Stadium on Friday with Connor Watson out through injury.
The safety first approach backfired with Mann putting down a regulation bomb in the first half, while Ponga was virtually unsighted in the opening stanza, held to a paltry seven run metres before they switched roles with 20 minutes to go.
Ponga's return to fullback started shakily when he came up with an error on a kick return, but the move had a clear impact on their attack with Shaun Kenny-Dowall crossing untouched to set up a grandstand finish with 16 minutes remaining.
The Knights looked set to force golden point when Mann broke into the clear in the 75th minute, but their attacking raid amounted to nothing when Edrick Lee was dragged into touch on the following play.
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"Our offence isn't going as smoothly as we'd like," Brown admitted post-match.
"I wouldn't sit here and say we're definitely going one way or the other.
"I'll certainly have a conversation with Kalyn but I'm certainly not one of these coaches who's stubborn enough to not put my hand up and say 'Maybe it's not a good idea'."
It was a wasteful start by the Raiders, with Ryan Sutton and Sam Williams failing to finish off Josh Hodgson's brilliant lead-up work, but it was a case of third time lucky for the No.9 whose angled grubber found a flying Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to open the scoring.
Having looked lackadaisical in attack for the opening quarter, it took a simple one-on-one miss by Jack Wighton to invite the Knights back into contest as Jesse Ramien burnt them down the right edge to get the visitors on the board.
Lee did a remarkable job to deny Joey Leilua a four-pointer, but his defensive heroics only delayed the inevitable as Williams sliced through to give the hosts a deserved 12-4 lead at the break.
Persistent rain resulted in a sloppy second half from both teams, but the conditions proved to be Nicoll-Klokstad's best friend as the slippery fullback broke through to push the lead out to two converted tries before Williams' late field goal put the result beyond doubt.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart admitted he didn't know much about Nicoll-Klokstad heading into the season.
"I didn't know a lot about Charnze so I have to give (assistant) Andrew McFadden the credit," he said.
"It was a tough game. It wasn't a flairy, attractive environment to play in so he had to play tough and he did. He's been a wonderful addition."
