Newcastle Knights hope Dane Gagai can return for must-win Magic Round clash
The Newcastle Knights are doing it tough at the moment, but the return of a Queensland Origin star could help turn things around.
The possible return of Dane Gagai looms as a huge boost for the Knights ahead of a Magic Round clash with the Bulldogs that neither side can afford to lose.
Pressure is amping up on both the Knights and Bulldogs, who sit in the last two spots on the ladder with just one win between them in seven weeks.
Injury has been a major contributor to Newcastle’s seven-game losing streak, but coach Adam O’Brien can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Mitch Barnett (suspension) and Tyson Frizell (illness) are both due back for Friday night’s game, while Kurt Mann (ankle) and Gagai (cheekbone) are chances to return earlier than expected.
O’Brien said the possible return of 19-time Origin player Gagai was particularly exciting.
“He’s a chance for this week,” O’Brien said, “We’ll know more tomorrow afternoon.”
“He’s an extension of the coaching staff out there, the way that he directs some of the younger guys around him.
“There’s not just troops coming back, there’s up around 1000 games of experience coming back, so that helps.”
O’Brien said Gagai’s injury hadn’t prevented him from training so is expecting he’ll be at his brilliant best when he comes back into the side.
At the same time, O’Brien is warning his Knights not to expect returning veterans to do all the work hoisting the side out of the doldrums.
“Looking at where we are on the ladder certainly hurts, but we’ve got to remain confident,” he said.
“We have a plan, we know that there’s some personnel coming back, but we’re not just waiting on them to return, we need to make some adjustments to the way that we’re playing at the moment.”
The Knights are expecting to meet a “fired-up” Bulldogs side in Magic Round.
“Two teams are going to turn up desperate,” O’Brien said.
“I know that they’ll be fired up. They’ll front-load a lot into their start to we need to make sure that we’re matching it.”
The Bulldogs face bottom-eight sides in the Wests Tigers and St. George-Illawarra Dragons in the weeks immediately after Magic Round so are looking to get on a roll from this weekend.
“If we can win this game, we’ve got a couple of games coming up and we can build a run on, I think,” Bulldogs centre Aaron Schoupp said.
“Whoever wins this comes off the bottom of the ladder, so we want that to be us.
“(The Knights) need a win and we need a win as well, so they’ll be doing everything they can to win, like we will.”
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