Disappointed the side has not performed better, and frustrated he has been unable to get on the field because of injury.
But the first five-eighth has a chance to rectify that when he makes his second start for Otago this season when it takes on Waikato in Hamilton tonight.
He said Otago took a knock in the first game against Counties-Manukau from which it has not recovered.
"When you look back at the season, that Counties game, where we didn't play well, really set the tone for the season," Noakes said.
"We were always going to get up for the Shield game the next week. But that game against Counties shocked the confidence a bit. We never got our game going. Then we faced Wellington and couldn't get the win there.
"Things are not quite going our way. Once the confidence is not there, the guys start playing within themselves. But we've been trying hard and once you start scoring tries then that breeds confidence."
Otago put on an improved showing last week, going down 35-20 to table-topping Canterbury. Noakes, who made his first start for Otago this season in that game, said the side wanted to maintain the defensive strength it showed, and get its attack going.
"But saying it is easy while doing it on the field is a different thing." Noakes has been unlucky with over the past couple of years.
He knocked himself out of the Otago line-up last year in a training accident, while this year he ripped ankle ligaments the week before the ITM Cup started and again at training, and that injury kept him out of the line-up for nearly two months.
It has been an eventful year for Noakes, who travelled to Europe for a month in June, with some questioning why he left midway through the club rugby season.
His father, Rob Noakes, a lawyer, had been in Spain for the past couple of years, working for the Oracle syndicate at the America's Cup in Valencia.
Noakes said it was a good time to explore Europe and catch up with family. He had also just finished his professional law papers.
Unfortunately, when he got back he strained a quadricep and was out for a month, missing the club final.
"In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have gone, getting that injury when I came back. But that might have happened any time. It was a great time to get away. I'd played club rugby for the last seven years so it was good to get away to a completely different part of the world."
Noakes, who is off contract with Otago at the end of the season, said he did not know where his future lay.
He might want to use the law and commerce degrees he earned one day but still wanted to play rugby at the highest level he could manage.
First though, there was the business of Waikato and having to mark former All Black Stephen Donald.
Noakes said Waikato was an attacking force and, with the impetus of All Black fullback Mils Muliaina, the home side was going to be hard to bowl.
Hamilton is not a happy hunting ground for Otago, which has lost in its past eight visits there.
The huge turnover of players Otago has experienced in the past few years is demonstrated by the fact that not one player of tonight's starting XV played in Hamilton two years ago.
Otago must start well tonight and tackle strongly against a side which appears to be working itself into some form.
OTAGO v WAIKATO
- Tonight, Hamilton, 7.35pm
Referee: Richard Kelly (Taranaki)
TAB odds: Waikato $1.18, Otago $4.50
Otago: Chris Small, Joe Hill, Josh Tatupu, Glenn Dickson, Fetu'u Vainikolo, Chris Noakes, Sean Romans, Charlie O'Connell, Alando Soakai (captain), Hoani Matenga, Hayden Triggs, Josh Townsend, Halani Aulika, Peter Mirrielees, Sam Hibbard.
Reserves: Wyatt McKay, Blair Young, Paul Grant, Brad Cameron, Johnny Legg, Paula Kinikinilau, Ryan Shortland.
Waikato: Mils Muliaina, Sosene Anesi, Save Tokula, Christian Lealiifano, Henry Speight, Stephen Donald, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Alex Bradley, Jack Lam, Dominiko Waqaniburotu, Romana Graham, Toby Lynn, Nathan White (captain), Vern Kamo, Toby Smith.
Reserves: Hikairo Forbes, Ben May, Matt Vant Leven, Zak Hohneck, Malcolm Barnes, Trent Renata, Frank Halai.
