KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien has described Friday's clash with Cronulla at McDonald Jones Stadium as his team's most important game of the season, regardless of how the outcome affects the points table.
Seventh-placed Newcastle (19 points) are one point and one position higher than Cronulla on the ladder, and can potentially seal a berth in the play-offs for the first time since 2013 if results go their way this weekend.
If the Knights beat the Sharks, and then Parramatta beat the ninth-placed Warriors on Sunday, Newcastle's spot in the finals will be guaranteed with three regular-season rounds still to play. But as far as O'Brien is concerned, that is not even a consideration.
His priority is for his players to make amends for last week's uncharacteristic 36-6 loss to the Warriors in Tamworth and to address the shortcomings they identified during a "a really brutal, honest review session" on Monday.
O'Brien said Friday's game would be "huge" in the context of Newcastle's season.
"Biggest game that we've had, I'd say, at the moment," he said.
"It's huge in terms of being able to right some wrongs from last week. It's of huge important for individuals to turn up, get their preparation right, which they have this week ... and come in here tomorrow night, ready to roll.
"From that perspective, regardless of ladder and time of year, I just think it's a really, really important game for us individually and as a club."
O'Brien said there were "too many variables" to pay any attention to the points table and doubted that his players would derive any extra motivation from the prospect of potentially securing safe passage into the finals.
"The motivation was there at full-time last week, to get better this week," he said.
"Finals are irrelevant."
O'Brien has not had to look far this week for inside information about the Sharks.
Injured Newcastle hooker Jayden Brailey, who spent the first three seasons and 69 games of his NRL career with Cronulla, has been acting as an unofficial assistant coach since undergoing a knee reconstruction earlier in the year.
"He's been working with us since he got injured, in terms of looking at some opposition, so his week didn't change just because we were playing the Sharks," O'Brien said. "He's been helping us for a number of weeks preparing the team, so he's done that again this week."
O'Brien was confident rugged lock Mitch Barnett, who was nursing a sternum injury last week, would take his place in the starting line-up.
After a slow start to the season, in which they lost their opening three games, the Sharks have found some form and momentum, winning eight of their past 11 fixtures.
Ex-Knights centre Jesse Ramien will no doubt have a point to prove against the club who showed him the door last season.
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