Newcastle led Melbourne 14-6 after 57 minutes but conceded two tries and a penalty goal to suffer an 18-14 defeat, their fourth in five games this season.

Their sole competition point came from a 24-all draw with Canberra in round three.

The Knights went into Saturday’s match as the NRL’s most-penalised team, having conceded 42 and received only 32 in the first four rounds. 

They maintained that average by incurring 11 penalties against Melbourne, including a 6-2 count in the second half when they were clinging to their narrow lead.

Brown had no complaints with the performances of referees Henry Perenara and Chris Sutton, saying on a number of occasions they had no option other than to blow their whistles.

“They got on the back of a lot of penalties, didn’t they, and deserved penalties,’’ Brown said.

“They weren’t unfair. There were three or four things that we did that were just not disciplined enough at this standard. You know, we had two hands on the ball and a double flop, so the referee didn’t have any choice but to penalise them.

“They were tackle-four penalties and we’d actually done all the hard work. 

“We’d put Storm in a bad spot and made them feel a bit uncomfortable, and we just didn’t make them earn field position at times … we didn’t quite help ourselves, which is a little disappointing, but it’s a lesson for us.’’

Melbourne felt Newcastle were lucky not to have been penalised even more heavily, arguing that their markers were often not square in an attmept to nullify champion Storm dummy-half Cameron Smith.

Meanwhile, the Knights will be sweating on the availability of centre Sione Mata’utia (head knock), hooker Danny Levi (back) and winger Nathan Ross (wrist), all of whom were injured against Melbourne.

Newcastle lost Mata’utia after a sickening collision in the fifth minute, then Levi limped off midway through the first half, leaving Brown with just two players on his interchange bench.

Levi and Ross were both booked in for scans, while Mata’utia will have to pass stringent concussion protocols to have any chance of playing against Wests Tigers on Sunday.

The return of Akuila Uate (chest joint) and Jack Stockwell (shoulder) provided a boost for Newcastle, and they will welcome the availability of Tariq Sims, who has completed a five-game suspension.