VETERAN Knights centre Adam MacDougall will miss tonight's season-opener against Canterbury-Bankstown at ANZ Stadium after being ruled out yesterday with a knee injury.
The 34-year-old former Test star will be replaced in Newcastle's backline by the experienced Wes Naiqama.
Utility Marvin Karawana travelled to Sydney yesterday as Newcastle's new standby player.
Knights coach Rick Stone said MacDougall had been able to manage only "a limited amount of training" and there was still some swelling in his knee, which prevented him from playing in any of the pre-season trials.
Naiqama will line up on Newcastle's right edge alongside his Fijian Test teammate Akuila Uate and will mark Canterbury's Kangaroo tourist Josh Morris.
Morris is regarded as one of the NRL's real speedsters but Naiqama was confident he could keep the 23-year-old quiet and cause him a few problems.
"He's quick and has shown what he can do in attack, but we think he's got a few issues in defence so we'll look to test him out there," Naiqama said.
"But he's a good player so I'll have to be on my toes.
"If he does get past me, I'll back Aku to run him down."
Naiqama is also expected to handle the goalkicking duties tonight in the absence of injured skipper Kurt Gidley.
The Bulldogs have their own backline change after winger Bryson Goodwin was ruled out yesterday with a fractured toe.
Goodwin, who scored 20 tries in 24 games last year, will be replaced by Heka Nanai.
Meanwhile, rugged Knight Mark Taufua is excited about a new job description after being chosen to start the season at lock.
The 28-year-old played 24 consecutive games for Newcastle last year in the front row and Stone wants him to play a similar style against a powerful Bulldogs pack.
"Mark's role will be primarily what he does in the front row," Stone said.
"He'll be carrying the footy one off the ruck and basically giving us another bigger body to handle the onslaught of the Doggies through the middle."
Taufua said his pre-season goal had been to retain the starting position he cemented last season.
"Ever since I joined the club I've set myself the goal of playing the first game of the year in first grade," Taufua said.
"I've been training hard and I'm happy with how things are going, and hopefully we can have a good win on Saturday."
A late starter who did not debut in the NRL until he was 26, Taufua now has 34 top-grade games to his name and represented Samoa in the off-season.
"I've learned a lot from the players that are here, but I'm still learning and hopefully there are bigger and better things to come this year," he said.
Off contract at season's end, Taufua said his agent had not yet kicked off contract talks.
"I want to be consistent this year and hopefully contribute to the team's success," he said.
"I've just left that stuff to my manager.
"He said focus on footy and that's all I'm thinking about."
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