David Klemmer's hopes of putting last week's drama behind him with a barnstorming performance against Brisbane have been torpedoed by a knee problem.
Newcastle announced on Friday that Klemmer would miss Saturday night's clash with the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium following the flare up of an old knee injury.
The prop underwent an MRI scan and while nothing serious was found, Klemmer will have the weekend off.
Sauaso Sue has come onto the bench with Jacob Saifiti moving into the starting front row to replace Klemmer.
Sue, who is leaving Newcastle at season's end to join Super League side Hull KR, has not played since round eight and only made four appearances this season.
Klemmer, who missed the side's 14-10 win over Wests Tigers on Sunday, had spoken this week about wanting to repay his teammates with a big game against the Broncos following his highly publicised run-in with a trainer and subsequent sanction from the club.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien said Klemmer had likely learnt a lesson from the incident, where he refused to be interchanged and then exchanged words with club trainer Hayden Knowles.
"There was some stuff there that he needed to be better on, but it was a really tough one," he said.
"I don't want the players to be particularly ecstatic to be replaced.
"You want your players really invested in the battle and that's what he does for us, but he understood at that time the right thing to do was come off the field."
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