Before a ball was kicked this season, Adam O'Brien spoke about his side not peaking too early and building into the season.
He reasoned it was about being thereabouts at the back-end with all your key players available and having momentum and confidence when it counted most.
At the time, it sounded like a good plan.
It was a clear reference from the Knights coach to what had happened to the side in their two previous campaigns.
Under Nathan Brown in 2019, the Knights were sitting fourth midway through the year off the back of six straight wins before losing eight of their last 10 games to miss the play-offs.
Then in O'Brien's first season in charge last year, the Knights managed to make the top eight but won just two of their last six games before going out in the first week of the play-offs with hardly a whimper when they were over-whelmed by South Sydney.
Now, not for one moment are we suggesting O'Brien was advocating to give the club's fans anything like the sort of rollercoaster ride of performances they have been forced to endure this season.
And even allowing for the calibre of players he has been without at various stages, he'd no doubt be wishing they could have picked up two or three more wins along the way. But the fact is with eight games to go, the Knights find themselves well within striking distance on the edge of the top eight, coming off two solid wins with almost their full compliment of players available.
They have also added a specialist playmaker in Jake Clifford into the mix who already looks like being a key figure going forward.
The question now is are they good enough to take advantage and how will they handle the move into a Covid hub on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, away from their army of fans, for possibly the rest of the season.
Prior to leaving their Mayfield home base yesterday to head north, Knights co-captain Jayden Brailey said he is excited about the back-end of the season and confident his side will adapt quickly to their new environment.
"We are all in this together and embracing the challenge," he said.
Prop David Klemmer believes the Knights are building into the side "we have always wanted to be" and says there is a growing confidence within the squad that he hasn't seen since he arrived in Newcastle.
"Getting our best players back is a big factor in that but we are building a belief now," he said. "In previous years, this is the period where we have gone down hill.
"But I think we have got our rough patch out of the road this season and with our full strength side virtually back, it's only up for us now from here.
"Obviously, we would love to be playing in front of our own fans and we'll face some challenges like every other side who has travelled to Queensland but everyone has got their head around it and I'm sure we will continue to build."
Keeping their momentum going will receive the ultimate test on Saturday night against leaders Melbourne in Melbourne. While every NSW club has been forced to move north, the Storm are back home fulltime and have been scoring points at will.
They have won their last 13 games and have beaten the Knights on their nine previous meetings. How the Knights respond to the challenge will tell us plenty about what lies ahead.
