HYMEL Hunt or Krystian Mapapalangi appear most likely to replace Knights veteran Dane Gagai should he fail to overcome a leg injury before Newcastle's season-opener next week.
Gagai tweaked a hamstring in the side's 36-14 loss to Parramatta last Friday.
The trial was the 32-year-old's first hit-out for the year and while it's understood his injury is minor, he is racing the clock to be fit to face the Warriors next Friday.
The 246-game centre would be a significant loss for the Knights as they aim to make a strong start to their 2023 campaign, but with reasonable depth in the outside-backs there are multiple replacement options, most likely Hunt or Mapapalangi.
Enari Tuala would be another option although there is a question mark over his fitness as well after he missed both trial matches due to a pec injury.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien may have to make a call on Gagai well before naming a team on Tuesday afternoon as the side is due to travel to Sydney early next week for their flight to Wellington, New Zealand.
Hunt was already in the mix to force his way into the side for the opening game after bouncing back from an injury-plagued 2022.
A seasoned campaigner with 109 games to his name, he has impressed Newcastle's coaching staff with his application over summer.
He also played well in the trials, nearly scoring in the 28-16 loss to Cronulla and replacing Dominic Young at half-time against the Eels.
"I think both of his games have been outstanding, actually," O'Brien said of Hunt after last week's trial.
"I've really noticed both his games when he has been on the field.
"He has had a good summer, and usually you have a good season when you've had a good summer."
If Gagai does take his place next week, it appears Hunt would need to be preferred ahead of England international Young or new recruit Greg Marzhew to land an opportunity on the wing.
Both have tremendous try-scoring records in their burgeoning NRL careers and crossed last week as well.
In 26 games, Young has bagged 18 tries. At his former club Gold Coast, Marzhew scored 15 in 25 apperances.
Hunt has netted 33 in his career, which also spans the Titans, Storm and Rabbitohs, but he is statistically a more competent defender.
The 29-year-old has a tackle-efficiency rate of 88.10 per cent in 55 games for Newcastle, Young's is 80.00 per cent while Marzhew's is 73.91. Hunt's rate may be slightly inflated by playing 20 of those games in the centres.
O'Brien admitted the three wingers had left him with a welcome selection headache and he was no clearer after last week's trial about who would line up on the flanks.
"I'm going to have the luxury of watching the tape," he said. "I thought Greg did some great things tonight, but so did Hymel.
"Dom, it was his first game back. He's only been training for four weeks, so I thought it was a pretty good stint from him in the first half."
Mapapalangi, 20, replaced Bradman Best at left centre for two games late last season but was quiet in the trials.
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