Multimillion-dollar recruit Dylan Brown has given himself a tick of approval for his first hit-out in Newcastle colours and expects Sandon Smith will be his halves partner in Las Vegas.
Saturday's 28-0 loss to Canterbury marked Brown's first appearance in Knights colours since joining from Parramatta on a record-breaking $13 million, 10-year deal this off-season.
Brown could not reprise the electric form he showcased in New Zealand's Pacific Championships campaign last spring, but took on the bulk of kicking and came close to orchestrating a first-half try for Dom Young.
For the 25-year-old, Saturday's match was never about flaunting the sum total of his first pre-season at Newcastle.
"I just wanted to work on my kicking and defence, that's something you work on in a trial, you don't want to do too much," Brown told reporters at McDonald Jones Stadium.
"I felt like I did that all right."
Speculation has mounted this off-season as to whether Fletcher Sharpe or Smith would partner Brown come the round-one clash against North Queensland in Vegas.
Even after last weekend's trial match against St George Illawarra, coach Justin Holbrook had been unsure which of game manager Smith or snazzy ball-runner Sharpe he preferred.
A hamstring injury ultimately prevented Sharpe from spending any time in the halves on Saturday, though he and Kalyn Ponga are expected to play in Vegas.
Brown believes Smith will be the man to play next to him at Allegiant Stadium.
"I'm assuming it'll be me and Sandon unless Justin changes anything. I don't think there'll be any changes," Brown said.
"I'm sure all those boys will be in and amongst it somewhere."
The Knights had the NRL's worst attacking record en route to a last-placed finish in 2025 and made 18 errors for a completion rate of only 62 per cent on Saturday.
But Brown stressed the pre-season defeat against a near full-strength Canterbury side did not mean another season of attacking woes.
"It's a trial game, it doesn't really represent who we are," he said.
"There's a lot of positives. I felt like we defended well, obviously ill-discipline, errors let us down, but I hope that won't happen in Vegas."
His record-breaking contract would put Brown in good stead to splash some cash on the Las Vegas tables, but the 25-year-old Kiwi is a somewhat reluctant visitor to Sin City.
"I'm actually someone that never really wanted to go to America," he said.
"I obviously want to go because it's with footy, but if it wasn't for footy, I probably wouldn't have went. I'm more of an island guy, sun, and apparently it's nine degrees there at the moment."
In fact, recent first-time father Brown is yet to make any lavish purchases with his newly beefed-up pay packet.
"I bought four houses, six cars," he joked.
"I'm just leasing at the moment, so no silly purchases, save the money, mate, and hopefully spend some money for my son over in Vegas."
