Newcastle coach Wayne Bennett claimed the Knights’ ugly but effective dispensing of Parramatta would hold his side in good stead ahead of a rematch with former NRL club St George Illawarra.
The Knights and Dragons head into Friday night’s WIN Jubilee Oval showdown with identical 3-3 records, with both sides doing little to convince critics of their premiership potential in the weeks since their opening round blockbuster.
Newcastle struggled to put away an ordinary Parramatta side before eventually prevailing 14-6 at Hunter Stadium on Sunday, while the Dragons couldn’t trouble the scorers in going down to fierce rivals Cronulla on Saturday night.
The questions which surrounded each side ahead of their round one clash – which the Dragons won 15-14 in golden point – still hold true, but Bennett claimed the Knights would benefit from winning ugly against the Eels.
“We weren’t pretty today but we’re just hanging in there,” Bennett said.
“Winning today did a lot more for us today than losing.
“We can live with a shabby performance today knowing that it’s back on again on Friday against a good team we lost in overtime to last time six weeks ago.
“It will be good to go back down there and go at them again.”
Asked where his side was at heading into the clash with the club he led to premiership success in 2010, Bennett said:
“My thoughts are that we’re three and three after six rounds and we’ve played the two best teams in the competition at the moment, the Storm and the Broncos.”
The Dragons are hoping to welcome back experienced centre Matt Cooper from an ankle for Friday night’s contest, but coach Steve Price will be hoping to come up with a bit more in attack against his former boss.
While the Knights may have been below their best, they did manage to pocket the two competition points, something Warriors coach Brian McClennan would love to be able boast about.
A week in camp on the NSW did little to shake the Warriors out of their early season slumber, with another slow start punished as Canberra ran out 32-12 winners in the nation’s capital.
Following their charge to last year’s grand final, a youthful Warriors club seemed on the verge of becoming a premiership force.
But with McClennan coming in to replace Ivan Cleary as coach, the Warriors have lost the spark that made them the most exciting attacking unit in the competition, and have just two wins from their opening six matches in 2012.
“We’ve just got to stay tough and get through this period,” McClennan said.
“… We’ve just not gelled or nailed it properly yet.”
Asked if the the side’s performances had anything to do with a hangover from last year’s run to the decider, McClennan said:
“I wasn’t involved in last season, I can’t answer.
“That’s the past and we’re looking at it now and we feel like we’ve trained and had a good season.
“But the buck stops with me here.”
The Warriors can at least look forward to the comforts of home, with three of their next four games at Mt Smart Stadium.