KNIGHTS coach Rick Stone has put the blinkers on his players for the final few days of the build-up to their NRL season-opener against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Acknowledging they were "slightly distracted" after popular former teammate Chris Houston was charged last Monday with three counts of supplying ecstasy and one count of supplying cocaine, Stone addressed players before training yesterday to ensure they were focused on the game.
Knights chief executive Steve Burraston and chairman Rob Tew have been in damage control in the past week, shoring up support from sponsors and members and dealing with extra media scrutiny, but Stone said the players had to leave those issues to club management.
"We had a good chat this morning, and we spoke a little bit about what we can control and what we can't control, so let's just concentrate on the parts we can control," Stone said after training at Mayfield yesterday.
"There's a lot of things that we can't control, like the media outlets and bookies and whatever the talk about us is, so we've asked them not to worry about the papers too much; keep their head down and concentrate and focus on what our job is, and make sure our attention to detail and our strive for excellence is as good as it can be.
"That's all we can do as far as our preparation is concerned."
The Knights will train three more times before the game against the Bulldogs, and Stone indicated two of those sessions - tonight and on Friday - would be closed.
The coach said it was critical for the players to make the most of those opportunities to give themselves the best chance of competing with a team rated among the title favourites this year.
"I think the boys were slightly distracted last week, and that's understandable," he said.
"But the way they trained today, I asked them to rate themselves when they finished their session and it was good. The quality was good, the intensity was good, the execution - we'll possibly do a little bit of work with that - but this is an important week for us.
"We can't let any time slip. I think the boys were probably in a mode where they were looking after themselves a little bit, getting themselves ready for this week, and that's a bit understandable too.
"But we're getting to the stage where we've only got another three sessions to go before we play, so basically we've got to prepare as well as we can - individually and as a team."
Utility Matt Hilder said the players had to increase their intensity in the countdown to kick-off.
"We talked about it this morning, about the things out of our control that we can't do anything about," Hilder said yesterday.
"We also talked about stepping up a gear this week, and so on for the next 20-something weeks."
Menacing bench prop Richie Fa'aoso, who hopes to return on Saturday after six weeks recovering from a knee injury, said the players had to put the dramatic events of last week and the off-season in general behind them.
Houston's former housemate Danny Wicks was arrested and charged on December 16 with six counts of supplying and two counts of possessing prohibited drugs.
Wicks quit the Knights on December 23.
Houston did likewise last Wednesday, leaving the club without two of their experienced forwards.
"We're just trying to focus on our roles, just what we have to do, then go from there," Fa'aoso said.
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