THE men who form Newcastle’s reinforced spine expect to spend more time together in their final pre-season trial after limited opportunities in the Knights’ 18-all draw with the Panthers at Port Macquarie Regional Stadium on Saturday night.
Halfback Jarrod Mullen played all but five minutes against Penrith, but five-eighth and captain Kurt Gidley, fullback Darius Boyd and hooker Danny Buderus were replaced at half-time.
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Boyd returned for the final 20 minutes to play in the centres then joined Mullen in the halves after back-up playmaker Tyrone Roberts was replaced with a suspected fractured eye socket.
Knights coach Wayne Bennett rotated 27 players against the Panthers but said he would reduce that to something closer to a 17-man NRL squad for the last practice match against Cronulla at Olympic Park in Muswellbrook on Saturday.
The acquisition of Boyd from the Dragons, which has allowed Gidley to shift to five-eighth to partner Mullen, and the return of Buderus after three years at Leeds should give the Knights one of the strongest backbones in the NRL this season.
Boyd, whose cut-out pass sent winger Kevin Naiqama across for Newcastle’s second try, said it would take more than two trial games to fine-tune their combination, but he believed the early signs were encouraging.
‘‘We didn’t really get that many chances, to be honest,’’ Boyd said. ‘‘We were all probably out there for only half a game, and we probably only had a couple of attacking sets.
‘‘But we’ll still practise hard at training and do all the right things there and get them working there, and hopefully we can show a little bit more against Cronulla at Muswellbrook.
‘‘We had a big squad, we had a few drops and penalties which I think we can cut out, and obviously it was our first game, so there’s things we can take out that were good and things that we need to improve on as well.’’
Gidley said the trial allowed the Knights to ‘‘blow off a few cobwebs’’ exactly five months since their last game, an 18-8 loss to Melbourne in the qualifying final at AAMI Park on September 11.
‘‘We probably haven’t done a heap as a team,’’ said Gidley, who showed no ill effects after off-season knee and ankle surgery. ‘‘We’ve been doing a fair bit of stuff as backs and forwards throughout the off-season, and hopefully we’re a bit better for it next week.
‘‘We’ll probably be a bit more down to the 17 next week.’’
Not surprisingly, Bennett gave little away when he spoke briefly to the media after the game.
But in the sanctuary of the dressing room he made it clear to players he was less than impressed with their handling errors and the concession of penalties for ruck indiscretions.
‘‘He was a bit disappointed in our dropped ball and the penalties, and probably compounding those two things together as well, which is not good,’’ Gidley said.
‘‘It’s not what we need, that’s for sure ...
‘‘The fundamentals, that’s what Wayne asked for out of this game, and I know he’d be disappointed in some of the numbers we pumped out in the fundamentals carrying the ball, completing our sets, and the errors and penalties, I suppose.’’
Bennett saw ‘‘nothing to get excited about’’ and said errors were to be expected in trials.
‘‘It’s a trial match, mate, so that’s what you’re doing it for, cause that’s what’s going to happen,’’ he said.
The Knights led 6-0 after a James McManus converted try in the fourth minute then conceded converted tries to Travis Burns (10th minute) and Michael Gordon (17th) to trail 12-6. But Kevin Naiqama’s converted try in the 22nd minute levelled the scores.
Matt Hilder cleaned up a spilled cross-field bomb to score in the 60th minute and Roberts converted for an 18-12 lead.
Penrith prop Chris Armit crashed over next to the posts in the 68th minute and Gordon converted to end the scoring.
The Knights are awaiting the results of scans on Roberts, and Penrith centre Michael Jennings was reported for a dangerous throw.
? The Knights emerged with no serious injury concerns from a 20-16 loss to Penrith’s feeder team, Windsor Wolves, in a NSW Cup trial at Toronto last night.
The Knights’ under20s drew with 20-20 with the Panthers.
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