Adam O'Brien wants Newcastle to play with freedom against Brisbane as they try to loosen up an attack that is the worst of any finals side in 14 years.
O'Brien has resisted the urge to rest several of his big names in the finals round on Saturday despite being unable to move from seventh, instead trying to pump more time into Kalyn Ponga, Mitchell Pearce and Jake Clifford.
The Knights have won their last five games to make the finals, but still average just 17.65 points per match to have them ranked 15th in the competition in attack.
No team has made the finals with such a poor attacking record since South Sydney's return to the playoffs in 2007, where they averaged just 17 points per game and were ranked last.
Knights legend Andrew Johns was among several critics last week as they failed to move the ball around against Gold Coast, pleading with players post-match to give Bradman Best more ball at left centre.
"We can play a little more free given the result doesn't change ladder position, but we dont want to be reckless and lose our momentum," O'Brien said.
"We've played a little bit tight because we've essentially played knockout footy for five weeks.
"If we dropped a game there for a while we weren't going to be able to make the eight so this is a little bit different.
"It's not (being) reckless, or stupid. We're not going against the laws of rugby league, you still need to hang onto the ball and play smart.
"But I feel it is an opportunity to fall into that stuff a bit quicker than they have been."
Newcastle will also become just the fourth side in the NRL era to make the finals ranked in the bottom two in attack, unless they score six more points than Brisbane or 37 more than North Queensland this round.
None of the previous three teams to have made the finals from the bottom two in attack have progressed beyond the first week of the finals.
But Newcastle do have reason for hope.
Pearce and Clifford have won every game they've played together since the latter joined from North Queensland mid-season.
It's another reason why O'Brien wants to keep the pair together on Saturday, while adding Tyson Frizell to the list of players rested alongside Jacob Saifiti, Jayden Brailey and Mitchell Barnett.
"Some teams have had their spine intact all year and we haven't so that was another reason we had to play them," he said.
"They (Pearce, Ponga and Clifford) need to spend more time together ... it doesn't mean that they play the whole 80 (minutes) but they need to spend a bit more time together."
