'I apologise': Knights coach sorry for press conference leading up to Dolphins match

Knights' coach Adam O'Brien apologised to the media for the way he handled a press conference on Wednesday after news spread of Dylan Brown's contract with Newcastle.

O'Brien and captain Kalyn Ponga fronted the media after the 26-12 win over the Dolphins, and the tone was slightly different to the media gathering in question.

The club has not officially announced Brown's signing but the Eels star told media during the week he had signed with the Knights for "a lot of money," leading to plenty of questions being thrown at O'Brien ahead of the Dolphins match.

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But the coach shut down any attempt to talk about the Eels five-eighth, saying he wanted to focus on the game ahead.

Speaking after the victory, O'Brien asked for forgiveness from the media over his approach before last night's win.

"I know I'm coping a little bit about not talking about Dylan Brown but my number one job yesterday was to not talk about next year when these guys are 24 hours out from playing," he said.

"I apologise if the media felt disrespected. I don't want to make your job harder - I know it is your job to report on news and it is newsworthy, I get it.

"What might have come across as disrespectful was coming from a place of respect. I was respecting the process of a 10-day cooling off period, I was respecting Parramatta.

"The last thing Parramatta want me doing during that period is talking about how we are going to play their player.

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"But I know the red and blue army, who have a right to know… they would be really disappointed in me if I was in there talking about next year when we had a game tonight. They want to win now and so do we, and I want to make sure we are doing our best.

"We are 12 months away from (Brown) happening. We have a team in there that are going to fight hard all year.

"We want to achieve something special with the group that is in (the sheds now). We are fully committed to this season."

O'Brien also hit back at rumours that Ponga is unhappy at the club amid claims he could move to New Zealand rugby.

"The hardest thing for Kalyn is the constant speculation that he's not happy here. His performances aren't showing that whatsoever," the coach said.

Ponga, who had 100 running metres in addition to three try assists and four line-break assists in the win over the Dolphins, also rejected the speculation surrounding his future while expressing excitement about Brown's pending arrival.

"How do I look out there? I look happy don't I?… it's all part of the game," Ponga said.

"I'm getting used to [the comments]. It's not something that I worry about because it's not going to make me a better player."