Knights coach Adam O’Brien has apologised for comments made following Thursday night’s remarkable comeback win over the Sea Eagles where he suggested that the fans that booed his team “don’t know anything about rugby league”.

It was an emotional response from a coach of a team that has struggled all year but fought back from 16-0 down at halftime to beat Manly in golden point thanks to a try from superstar fullback Kalyn Ponga.

O’Brien wasn’t aware of the booing and issued an emotional response when asked about it with the first question of the press conference.

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“It’s really disappointing,” he said after the game.

“I know the scoreline’s not what they want, but to boo the effort that went into the first half from a young team … the people that boo don’t know anything about rugby league.”

The Knights coach came under fire from fans and sections of the media on Friday morning over his post-match comments, with O’Brien fronting up to a press conference to apologise to fans who have supported the team through some tough periods over the past decade.

“I apologise unreservedly to our members and fans that I offended, and I can understand why they’d be offended,” he said.

“I was underprepared for that question. I was unaware that there had been some booing on my way down at halftime, so the first time I’d heard it was with that question, so I went straight into protection mode for our playing group.

“That’s not an excuse. I’m here to own it. That’s not how I feel about our members. I understand we’re here because of those people, and I think I’ve openly stated the opposite for a number of years that they are an educated fan base and an educated crowd.

“They sit through all sorts of weather and scorelines with unwavering loyalty, so I’m disappointed that I let them down with an emotional response to protect the playing group when I didn’t have all the facts.

“Hopefully, over time I can win back some of their respect because that’s not how I feel about them.”

O’Brien said he just wanted to protect his players after a difficult few weeks, with Knights winger James Schiller copping vile abuse on social media from someone who threatened his life after the game.

Schiller endured a rough first half playing out of position but came up with several huge plays in attack when he was moved back to the right wing.

“That’s worrying and that’s probably where I was coming from,” O’Brien replied when asked about the abuse.

“I want to protect them, so for him to go through that over a couple of errors (is awful).

“It’s a game of footy and he’s got a family, so that’s partly the reason why you do you want to protect them.”