Knights coach Adam O’Brien has heaped praise on rookie flyer David Armstrong while also revealing some honest conversations about the team’s “DNA” inspired their win.

Newcastle beat the Dolphins 18-14 at Suncorp Stadium, bouncing back after two losses, going down the Bulldogs in Round 7 in ugly fashion.

Without Kalyn Ponga, who has suffered a Lisfranc injury, the Knights were gritty and were inspired by the hardworking values of the Hunter Region.

“Happy to win, we needed to come here and find a way to win whether it was ugly, pretty, whatever it was. We needed to put a needed to put a whole tonne of effort in,” O’Brien said in the post-match press conference.

“We just needed to find a way to walk away with two points and we did that… we spoke a lot actually of the team and the DNA of our town and our club.

“We want that to be tough and gritty and we thought we’d fallen out of love with that part of the game a little bit, we were chasing the flash stuff.

“I thought today was a step in the right direction back to just going and winning a game in how you turn the ball over and how you defend.

“All the stuff that’s not fun for people to do in footy games, but that’s what wins them.”

Armstrong, 23, stood in for Ponga at fullback and scored a try on debut within 10 minutes with O’Brien revealing his crossed in front of his family and friends.

“Everyone is wrapped for him… there was a good feel about us, we had Dave’s family in and where he scored was right in front of them,” O’Brien said.

“You couldn’t script it any better for him, he was a little nervous all week but we spoke about mateship as one of the trademarks of the weekend we are celebrating.

“We spoke about how good teammates are going to look after Davey today, and I thought we did that and he played his part as well.”

Meanwhile, O’Brien also explained Knights great Darren Albert presented Armstrong with his jersey.

Albert himself was a nippy outside back, and O’Brien believes the pair have a similar presence on the field.

“It’s a little bit uncanny, stuff happens around Davey, we had Darren Albert present him his jersey and we spoke a bit about how stuff happens around Alby,” O’Brien said.

“Davey just pushing up on the inside of plays, it was pretty fitting we got him to present that jersey because he’s got that ability.

“I know in the first half he kicked on play two but I don’t want to strip that out of him, you’re going to have your hair pulling moments from him.

“But you’re going to have a fair few where you stand and clap him as well, I don’t want to get too ahead of myself because it’s his first game.

“But he did a hell of a job, proud of him.”