KNIGHTS officials are hoping their largest home crowd of the coronavirus era will turn out on Sunday to make Mitchell Pearce's 300th NRL game a suitably memorable occasion.
Flying high after wins in their first two games of the season, Newcastle host the Wests Tigers at McDonald Jones Stadium (4.05pm), when Pearce will create history by becoming the first player to reach the triple-century milestone while wearing a blue-and-red jersey.
It will be his 62nd game for the Knights, after 238 for the Roosters.
A crowd of more than 20,000 is predicted for the first time since 2019.
COVID-19 restrictions meant that Newcastle had only eight home games last season, with an average turnout of 5850, easily the lowest in the club's history.
This year, NSW stadium crowd capacities have increased to 75 per cent, which means Sunday's game could potentially host around 22,500 spectators.
Knights management are hopeful that, given sunny weather is forecast, the game could be a sell-out.
The season-opening win against Canterbury attracted 19,555 fans, even in the problematic 6pm Friday time slot.
Traditionally, Sunday-afternoon fixtures have been best for the Knights from a crowd-pulling perspective.
The most recent 20,000-plus crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium was in August, 2019, when the vast majority of the 21,029 in attendance were left disappointed, after an upset 28-26 loss to the Tigers.
Knights warhorse David Klemmer said sending the Novocastrian faithful home with "smiles on their faces" would be a priority on Sunday.
"I know it's only a little thing, but it could make someone's day, or weekend," Klemmer said.
After playing a handful of games last year in locked-up stadiums, Klemmer said it was "great" to have crowds back in large numbers.
"For me personally, it didn't change much because we still wanted to win the footy game," he said.
"But it's always good for athletes to run out in an arena when it's roaring. It pumps you up."
A NSW Origin teammate of Pearce's before they linked together at Newcastle in 2019, Klemmer was confident his teammates would dig deep on Sunday for the 31-year-old playmaker, who was replaced as club captain in the pre-season.
"We've got Junior's 300th, and as a footy club, we don't like losing milestone games," he said.
"Everyone's got to come out and perform ... if someone's got a milestone game, we want to make that memorable for them.
"We want to win those games and they can look back at the end of their careers and say: 'I won my 100th, or I won my 300th'.
"We want to make that special for them.
"Not many people get to play 300, so if we're going to be part of that, we have to put in a performance that will make Junior proud."
