Coach Adam O'Brien fears Newcastle may have to qualify for the finals without Jackson Hastings after the halfback suffered a suspected syndesmosis injury in the 42-6 thrashing of Canterbury.
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Hastings went down in agony midway through the first half on Sunday after a hip-drop tackle from Bulldogs rookie Jacob Preston.
He did not require assistance leaving the field at McDonald Jones Stadium but was limping slowly and watched the remainder of the game with ice, and then a moon-boot, on his right ankle.
"It's not looking good," O'Brien said.
"They're talking syndesmosis. Fingers crossed on that one, he'll get scans tomorrow."
Any long-term absence would be perilous for the Knights, who rely on Hastings as their organising half.
Newcastle have won six consecutive games but likely need to claim two of their last three to guarantee the finals spot that looked out of reach when they sat 14th on the ladder in late June.
Coming clashes with top-eight hopefuls South Sydney and Cronulla could be decisive, with Adam Clune set to come in as Hastings' replacement.
"We've just got to find a way to get on with it. We've done that in the past so we'll do it again," O'Brien said.
The Bulldogs fell behind 30-0 at halftime in scenes reminiscent of the 66-0 drubbing Newcastle inflicted on them in round 18.
Sunday's game looked set to become a carbon copy of that fixture, but Kalyn Ponga had an uncharacteristically quiet day and the Knights were error-prone after the break.
The game nevertheless ended as the third time in the last month the Bulldogs conceded more than 40 points.
"Ill-discipline killed us, like it has a number of times this year," said coach Cameron Ciraldo.
"Penalties, missed tackles, errors, I think at one stage we were 50 per cent for completions."
Back-to-back sin bins reduced the Bulldogs to 11 players for two-and-a-half minutes when they were down 12-0, putting them further behind the pace.
Harrison Edwards was first to go for a professional foul, with Preston joining him for his shot on Hastings.
Some diabolically bad Canterbury defence did the rest of the work in establishing the half-time deficit.
The Bulldogs were two tries down after nine minutes, after Dane Gagai and then Tyson Gamble scooted between Luke Thompson and Viliame Kikau for two of the softest four-pointers this season.
Incredibly, the Bulldogs enjoyed 16 more tackles in the red zone than the Knights but their only try came when Reed Mahoney barged over from dummy half late on.
The closest the Bulldogs came to scoring in the first half was when Preston failed to ground the ball in-goal just before the break.
Knights centre Enari Tuala scooped the ball up and ran the length of the field for his own try at the other end. It was that kind of day for Canterbury.
Australian Associated Press
