As his team ran onto McDonald Jones Stadium in front of an adoring home crowd last Sunday, Knights coach Adam O’Brien was equal parts anticipation and trepidation.
The NRL’s hottest team was looking to extend its winning streak to 10 and keep their season alive for another week, but their preparation had been far from ideal.
Superstar fullback Kalyn Ponga, chief playmaker Jackson Hastings, edge forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon and utility Kurt Mann were entering the club’s biggest game of the season under a cloud after missing the previous week’s win over the Dragons due to injury.
O’Brien couldn’t be sure their battered bodies would survive the rigours of a sudden-death semi-final, but he had to roll the dice.
A week later, with another do-or-die showdown awaiting against the Warriors, there’s a very different atmosphere in the Knights’ camp, despite the fact Hastings won’t take the field after aggravating his ankle injury in the win over Canberra.
“We’re in a much better position this week than we were last week,” O’Brien said on Friday.
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“We took four guys into it that we had our fingers crossed but we don’t have anyone like that this week.
“We’ve been smart with the preparation, filling the tanks back up every day, and we’ll get the finer details of our prep right this afternoon and the boys will be ready to go.
“Jackson is a quality player, I won’t downplay it [his absence], but there were games that felt like semi-finals at back end of season and Adam Clune came in and did a great job for us.
“We had three sell-outs in a row at home with huge support and with that comes a bit of weight of expectation which the Warriors will have to handle now.
“We feel it in Newcastle, we feel that support, but some result-anxiety comes with that.”
Before the Warriors get to worrying about the outcome of their first home final in 15 years they have had to deal with a fitness issue for their own chief playmaker, Shaun Johnson.
After missing the qualifying final loss to the Panthers due to a calf injury, Johnson has been racing the clock to be right for one of the biggest occasions in club’s 28-year history.
“I was in a similar situation last week [with Kalyn], so I understand what the Warriors are doing with Johnson and I don’t think it’s necessarily to play mind games with us,” O’Brien said.
“With experienced players like Shaun and Kalyn, they know what they are capable of and you have to put some trust in your player.
“They are selfless and Shaun won’t let his team down by playing if he isn't right, but ultimately we just have to make sure we get us right.
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“The bigger game and the bigger the atmosphere, the more narrow your focus has to be to the basic fundamentals of your job.
“You have to narrow your focus down to do the things you do really well and add a bit of intensity to it.
“The guys know what they are walking into and they would rather play in front a packed stadium than three people in the stand so we’ll embrace that.”
The last time the Knights tasted defeat was in late June against the Panthers, although the winning roll threatened to end at two games when they trailed the Storm 12-0 just 10 minutes into their Round 21 clash in Newcastle.
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What transpired during the next half hour was a four-try blitz that wrestled back supremacy and gave O'Brien an inkling of what his team might be capable of should they sneak into the finals.
"We were behind early, the Storm scored the first two tries, and it takes a fair bit against quality opposition like that to be behind and remain composed and get back into our process and come out the other side," he said.
"I think that gave them a lot of belief that our footy does hold up.
"Just because we've won 10 in a row doesn't guarantee a win but it gives you confidence that your footy is working and you're not searching for answers."
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