KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien is confident his team can replicate the intensity and tenacity they showed in last week's win against the Dolphins when they host the equally desperate Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
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With their backs to the wall after losing skipper Kalyn Ponga to a long-term injury, Newcastle responded with a gritty 18-14 win against the Dolphins and have now set their sights on consecutive victories for the first time this season.
O'Brien sees no reason why they can't turn up with the same steely mindset week in, week out.
"I think we need to be prepared to go into every game like that," O'Brien said.
"You need to be able to compete in those arm-wrestle-type games, especially at the back end of the year.
"And I think we have been. We've been involved in a lot of high-intensity, ball-in-play games, and I reckon we're conditioned to it now."
O'Brien said he felt the Knights "got a bit of our DNA back" with a "gritty defensive mindset" against the Dolphins, and if they can reproduce that on a consistent basis will be in the thick of most contests.
In saying that, he expects the Warriors will be equally prepared for a dogfight, after a draw and consecutive losses in their past three games.
"I think when we played them over there [a 20-12 loss in Auckland in round four], we handled the shape they threw at us fairly well," he said.
"What we didn't do well over there was tackle well in the middle third of the field.
"Wayde Egan got out of dummy-half and hurt us a couple of times ... so we learned some lessons from that.
"I don't think we were disgraced at all over there. It was a really hard-fought game.
"But we've prepared this time knowing that we have to defend well in the middle.
"And to be fair, what we learned from that game, we fixed it straight away and beat the Dragons [30-10] in our next game."
With wet weather forecast, the Warriors should feel at home in the conditions, but O'Brien said that would not necessarily mean a dour contest.
"Well, we went into that game against the Dragons on a wet night with a very defensive mindset, and we ended up scoring 30 points," O'Brien said. "But there's no doubt that defence will win this one on Sunday."
O'Brien was hopeful that middle forwards Jacob Saifiti (foot) and Jed Cartwright (ankle) will be cleared to play after limping off the field last week, but he will assess them at Saturday's captain's run training session.
"I'm prepared to give them up until Saturday," O'Brien said.
"They're not 100 per cent across the line, but they're close."
