KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien has done the maths.
Ignoring his usual pragmatic "one week at a time" mantra, coach O'Brien has crunched the numbers in his calculator and reached the conclusion that four wins from their remaining six games might be enough for his Newcastle Knights to secure a berth in the play-offs.
The Knights sit 10th on the ladder heading into Saturday's clash with the Raiders in Canberra, with 23 points from eight wins, three byes and a draw.
"A couple of weeks ago I sat down and thought: 'This is what'll get us there'," O'Brien said. "It's up around the 30-point mark, or 31 points.
"But then I quickly practised what I preach a lot. I just bring myself back to the Canberra game now.
"Take care of the game that's in front of us, and it'll be what it will be.
"But I'm not going to lie to you. I worked out around 31 points should get us in ... we'll get Canberra right and worry about the next one after that."
After successive wins against Canterbury, Wests Tigers and Melbourne, the Knights appear to be timing their run to perfection.
O'Brien pointed out that of the NRL's top five teams, Newcastle have beaten the Warriors, Storm and Canberra and lost narrowly against Penrith and Brisbane.
But he has no intention of letting his players rest on their laurels.
"We didn't have a parade and a party on review day ... we weren't all in here patting each other the back," O'Brien said of last week's breakthrough 26-18 win against Melbourne.
"We understand that we need to go again, and we understand that we need to get our attitude right to play Canberra in Canberra.
"Melbourne's done now. We need to move on pretty quickly, and they've done that."
O'Brien has reminded his players "don't get too far ahead of ourselves", especially as Canberra are renowned as a side with a junkyard-dog mentality.
"They're a tough footy team," O'Brien said of the Raiders.
"They're a gritty team. They break tackles. We know what's in front of us.
"We need to make sure that we're prepared to get the physical parts of the game right."
The Raiders will be looking to avenge their 24-14 loss to Newcastle in round four and coach Ricky Stuart will be anxious to bounce back from a 21-20 loss to the Warriors in golden point last week.
"At this stage of the year we need two points," Stuart said.
"The competition's so congested it's coming down to every game now is such an important two points for so many football teams."
Four of Canberra's remaining six games are in the national capital, and Stuart was looking forward to a healthy turnout, especially as the Raiders' NRLW team play their first-ever home game, against Sydney Roosters, in the curtain-raiser.
"It's a big part of playing at home, our crowd there are very passionate people and they get right behind the team," he said.
"The more noise they make the better it is. I know the players appreciate it.
"When we're on the road we have got good results. We've got to get better results at home.
"I've got my line of thought on [our home form]. It's a matter of doing more so than talking about it."
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