Newcastle coach Rick Stone remains unsettled on his first choice line-up just four days out from the Knights’ NRL season opener.

Greeted with a wealth of backline options upon his return to Hunter Stadium as head coach in 2015, Stone says he is likely to leave it until hours before Saturday’s clash with the Warriors before he decides on his 17.

Sione Mata’utia’s emergence as the Kangaroos’ youngest ever Test debutant last season has added another arrow to Stone’s already impressive quiver out wide.

It’s a backline that also includes representative stars James McManus, Akuila Uate, Joey Leilua, Dane Gagai, Jarrod Mullen and Tyrone Roberts.

“There’s a couple of key positions to sort out and we might keep that until game day,” Stone said at training on Monday.

“It’ll be up to us to decide what we think is going to be the best balance for the team on the day.

“The first selection is usually the hardest because when you’re thinking about your depth and your quality that you really need to have in your team to be competitive at this level, you’ll have blokes that are going to be disappointed when they miss out.”

Stone admitted he is set to have a few sleepless nights over the make up of his team – and that of his opposition.

In particular Warriors playmaker and 2014 Golden Boot winner Shaun Johnson, who delivered the Kiwis their Four Nations title at the end of last season.

“We’d be mad not to think that he’s not a really important cog to their wheel,” he said.

“It’s about minimising his affect rather than shutting him down all together.

“Their pack is always big, mobile and aggressive.

“Any pack of forwards have to be in their game if they are to hold their own at least in the ruck.

“This game matching it up with the big Warriors forwards is going to be a tough assignment for these boys.

“But I know they are up for it and ready for a crack and ready to prove themselves against some of the knockers supposedly they’ve had.”