“Our effort was terrific. We are turning up and really working hard but just that last pass to finish off the good work is not happening for us,” Kidd said in reflection on Cessnock’s 10 point loss to Macquarie Scorpions on Saturday

“We didn’t have a bad player, but we just didn’t have a bloke to grab the game and win it for us.

“We're not playing too badly, they just took their chances better than we did.”

The Goannas trailled 10-0 at half-time and matched the Scorpions on the scoreboard in the second to finish 10-20 losers.

“It was a pretty even contest, with a lot of the game played between the two 20s,” Kidd said.

“We competed very well, but just didn’t have the critical finish and they got us a couple of times with some pretty soft tries.

“It’s frustrating, but if we keep working hard it will turn.

“Once we click I think we’ll be a really good side. At the moment just a few things are going against us and we just need to keep on working through it and be a bit better.

“We were pretty good against Wests, we beat Kurri and were good enough against Central and Macquarie that on another day we could have easily won those games.”

The Goannas face Maitland and Lakes in the next two rounds, with Saturday’s fixture against the Pickers the annual Harry Hofman Memorial Match at Coronation Park.

“It’s a privilege to be part of the memorial match for Harry and it was supposed to be the first game at Maitland’s new ground, but that didn’t eventuate.”

“If we can turn up on the day and put our best foot forward we can turn things around. Hopefully this weekend we can put it on the park.”

Hooker Jake Watts and Blake Andrews on debut tied for players’ player and the coach’s award went to  Reed Hugo who backed up after playing in Newcastle Rebels under-23’s 50-18 win against North Coast.