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Newcastle were taught a football lesson in their NRL pre-season loss to Parramatta in Maitland, according to coach Nathan Brown.

Newcastle coach Nathan Brown admits his new-look team could be overhyped heading into the NRL season following their comprehensive pre-season loss to Parramatta.

Just two weeks before their season-opener, the Knights were taught a 26-6 lesson by the premiership contenders in a trial where both coaches laid out their best available line-up.

Newcastle started brightly but faded badly as a well-drilled Eels outfit got on top midway through the first half and refused to allow the Knights back into the contest.

The defeat burst the off-season bubble of last year's wooden spooners, who are expecting improvement after an impressive recruitment drive over the summer.

"Are we overyhyped? Possibly we are," Brown said after the loss.

"But do people deserve to have a bit of excitement and expectation? Sure they do, because we've gone through a tough time and they've all been supporting us."

Attacking weapons Mitchell Pearce, Connor Watson and Kalyn Ponga had limited opportunities against an Eels side widely predicted to go deep into September this year.

In front of a sell-out crowd in Maitland, a Knights pack bolstered by new signings Jacob Lillyman, Aidan Guerra and Herman Ese'ese spent most of the night down their own end.

"We had nine players that have never played at the club before on the field together against a settled Parramatta team, so it's not going to be easy for us," Brown said.

"But we certainly need to do better than what we did."

Despite his team scoring first through Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Brown said the Eels taught his side lesson in maintaining possession and discipline.

"Am I disappointed with the way we played? Did I expect us to do a little better? I did expect us to do better. I'd be very surprised if the players didn't expect ourselves to do better," he said.

"On the other hand, Parramatta are a very good side so it was good to play a side who are expected to be up in that top part of the comp.

"They give us some good lessons so anyone that may have been getting ahead of where we're at, will soon come back down to earth a bit quick."