Knights coach Adam O'Brien says he has a healthy respect for Warriors rival Nathan Brown and praised the ex-Newcastle coach for "leaving me with a good roster to work with" as they prepare to face each other for the first time in the NRL at Gosford tonight.
The Knights have lost five-eighth Kurt Mann for the game with a knee injury with youngster Phoenix Crossland to fill the void in the halves alongside Mitchell Pearce.
But the rest of the injury-front news is positive with centre Bradman Best, lock Connor Watson and winger Starford To'a all cleared to play.
Both O'Brien and Brown this week played down the significance of their first meeting as opposing coaches but there is no doubt it adds a little bit of spice to what shapes as a real on-field battle of the in-form forward packs at Central Coast Stadium.
Brown was at the helm of the Knights for four years prior to O'Brien's arrival last season and was responsible for bringing the bulk of the current Knights roster to Newcastle during the club's controversial rebuild.
He told the Newcastle Herald the prospect of taking on his old team is not something he will think too much about in the build-up to kick-off.
"It's professional sport, isn't it," he said. "I've coached against the Dragons [his former club] before when I was at the Knights and I did it in England as well so it's just the nature of coaching these days."
Brown said his intimate knowledge of the Knights squad would not give him any advantage.
"Not with technology the way it is these days - everyone knows everything about everyone else," he said. "Once the whistle blows, you're in the hands of the players to a large degree so it's about getting your own team playing to their optimum."
READ: David Klemmer's exclusive column
Asked his thoughts on O'Brien and the job he is doing with his former club, Brown said: "While I was in Newcastle, I thought we improved from year to year and I've got no doubt Adam has improved them even further since he's arrived.
"They are a quality side on the way up who were really strong first up last week so we are going to need to play well to get over the top of them."
O'Brien said there is "absolutely nothing personal" about his confrontation with Brown.
"Nothing's been spoken about at all with the playing group about Nathan," O'Brien said.
"The players may have fielded a few questions from the media about it but that's the extent of it.
"From my point of view, I've got a real healthy respect for Nathan as a coach, a player and as a person. I worked with him a little bit in Melbourne so I got to know him there. He certainly left me a good roster to work with here and I'm grateful for that.
"There's no doubting a lot of good things happened during his tenure here at the club that has certainly made my job easier.
"But this week is no different from every other week - it's about winning the two competition points and I'm sure it's the same for him."
The Knights injury outlook is far brighter than it looked at the beginning of the week when a further two or three players appeared set to be sidelined following the opening round win over the Bulldogs.
As it stands, Mann will be the only player missing from the 32-16 victory and it will only be for this week.
O'Brien said he is erring on the side of caution by leaving his five-eighth out of the side.
"He's done some running and was really close to be honest," O'Brien said. "But in the end, I've opted to give him the game off to make sure he'll be cherry ripe for next week. Bradman, Connor and Star have all trained well and will play."
O'Brien refused to be drawn on whether he will start Watson at lock or go with Jesse Sue like he did against the Dogs.
"That might depend on the ground conditions," he said.
