Knights five-eighth Kurt Mann had a sleepless night on Saturday with his swollen ankle in ice as he races the clock to be fit for Thursday night's clash against Brisbane Broncos.
Along with frontrower Daniel Saifiti, Mann was a standout in the side's loss to Melbourne despite taking the field with his troublesome ankle heavily strapped.
"The physios worked really hard on it last week and I missed a few sessions but if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have played," he said.
"When I first did it, it blew up pretty well and I've still got a lot of bruising down the back of my leg but it looked a whole lot worse than what it was. The captain's run [on Friday] was the first time I'd run properly but once I got through that, I was confident of playing."
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Mann tweaked his ankle and looked in trouble in the second half against Storm but finished the game and despite it swelling up afterwards, he is confident of being right for the Broncos.
"It's up like a balloon again but it feels a lot better than it did after the Canberra game," he said. "It's a short turnaround which doesn't help but I'll be working around the clock to make sure I'm there."
In another performance that highlighted the improvement in his game this season since his permanent move to five-eighth, Mann laid on a try for Bradman Best and threatened in attack.
Meanwhile, backrower Lachlan Fitzgibbon appears certain to be back for the Brisbane game with coach Adam O'Brien indicating Mitch Barnett is on track to return from neck surgery the following week against the Cowboys.
