While everyone in the team contributed strongly in the 44-0 trial match win against the Canberra Raiders last weekend, it was the middle forwards that set the tone for the match with their uncompromising style of play.
The Raiders started with international representatives Shannon Boyd, Josh Papalii, Elliot Whitehead and Josh Hodgson up front, but the less fancied Knights pack overcame the challenge.
It prompted new recruit Jamie Buhrer to praise his fellow forwards when asked about the trial hit-out on Tuesday morning.
“I thought our middle – Mitch Barnett, Josh Starling, Daniel Saifiti and Danny Levi really stepped up in that first 25 minutes,” the back rower said.
“And it goes for the middles that replaced them as well… I thought they did a tremendous job with their aggression and carrying the football.”
The experts say that winning a football match starts in the forwards, and Buhrer thought it was no different in Queanbeyan.
“If we can win that battle in the middle, then we’ve got some good people in the outside backs that will be better for it,” he explained.
“The aggression in defence was probably the best, and that’s going to be important throughout the year.
“There’s been a lot of improvements from players on the training field, and we saw that transfer to a game.”
While Buhrer got on the scoresheet and was recognised as one of the best players on the field, he missed the second half due to a cork.
He said that it wasn’t going to put him out of action for any period of time though.
“It was a big cork, but it’s nothing that’s going to keep me out too much and I trained today.”
