Bellamy's NRL and world club champions arrived in Newcastle yesterday to prepare for tonight's showdown at EnergyAustralia Stadium with the Knights, a team for whom they have healthy respect after some hard-fought battles in recent seasons.

The bookmakers were quick to install Newcastle as wooden spoon favourites after the departures of Danny Wicks and Chris Houston in well-documented circumstances, but Bellamy said the Knights showed in last week's 20-16 win against the Bulldogs that they had dealt with their issues and moved on.

"They'd be looking to put that behind them, I'd imagine, and I think they have to a certain extent after their performance last week," Bellamy told The Herald yesterday.

"Everyone handles different things differently.

"What they've been through in the pre-season is certainly not ideal but, at the end of the day, judging by their performance last week, they've handled it really well.

"They've just got on with what they can do, and that's play footy.

"Coaches do the coaching and players do the playing, and obviously what they've done worked really well last week, and I'd imagine it put them in good stead for the rest of the year."

Bellamy said Newcastle, who finished seventh last year, were one of the standout teams in round one.

"It was pretty hard not to be impressed," Bellamy said.

"The Bulldogs were one of the top sides last year, and for them to come out and play like they did and go to the lead they did, it was a pretty good effort."

Tonight will be the fourth time in as many years that Melbourne have played at EAS against a Knights outfit regrouping after a drama.

In 2007, champion playmaker Andrew Johns was ruled out two days before Newcastle hosted the Storm after suffering a career-ending neck injury.

It was a similar story a year later when Danny Buderus suffered a torn biceps the week before Newcastle played Melbourne, which prematurely ended his NRL career.