Daniel Saifiti, who is one of the nib Newcastle Knights' top tacklers this season, maintains it’s the forward pack that needs to step up on Friday night against the Sydney Roosters.
“They have Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Dylan Napa in the middle and Aidan Guerra on the edge, so they are good all over their forward pack and it’s going to be a massive challenge for us,” explained Saifiti.
Even though the red and blue were defeated by the Brisbane Broncos last weekend, he said the team took confidence out of the match.
“In the middle I thought we did alright," Saifiti said.
“There are a few other areas we need to work on but we take confidence out of every week.
“We are disappointed that we’re not getting the results week in and week out… I feel we deserve to get the win some weeks.”
The 21-year-old knows the second-placed Roosters are a danger all over the park.
“It is the momentum they get off the forward pack and then their outside backs, Daniel Tupou and Blake Ferguson come in for those fourth tackles,” said Saifiti.
“We need to slow them down.”
Saifiti admits their focus will be on managing the second half better.
“It has become frustrating and it would be for the fans as well,” he said.
“We have been going pretty well in the first halves, getting the lead like we did have on the weekend.
“We just have to concentrate and do something to change the momentum in the second half and get the win.”
The towering forward thinks it’s a bonus to have already met the Roosters earlier this year in Round 7.
“We’ve already played them this year which is a positive... I don’t think the score represented how tough the game was,” explained Saifiti.
“We are hoping we can do a job in the middle and the backs can do the rest and score the points.”
Meanwhile, Saifiti has welcomed the signing of Brisbane Broncos centre Tautau Moga to the Club next year.
“All the players we are getting are from good clubs,” Saifiti commented.
“Hopefully they will bring good habits to show some of us young guys the right way and it’s only a positive for the Club and it’s only going up for us from here.
“Tautau is a big strong guy and it is a positive for us to have a big outside back.
“I had to tackle him on the weekend and it wasn’t pretty, so it will be good to have him on our side next year.”
Meanwhile, twin Jacob misses Friday night's match due to a calf injury.
NYC will kick off footy action at Allianz Stadium on Friday at 3.45pm before NRL at 6pm.
