Newcastle Knights v Wyong Roos
Date: Saturday March 11
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Kick-off: 12:40pm
SQUADS
Newcastle
1. Nick Meaney, 2. Cory Denniss, 3. Tom Hughes, 4. Chanel Mata'utia, 5. Jacob Gagan, 6. Will Pearsall, 7. Jack McNamara, 8. Sam Mataora, 9. Tyler Randell, 10. Mickey Paea, 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12. Anthony Tupou, 13. Josh King. Interchange: 14. Braden Robson, 15. David Bhana, 16. Pat Mata'utia, 17. Joe Wardle, 18. Faitotoa Faitotoa, 19. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, 20. Tyrone Amey.
Wyong Roos
1. Luke Sharpe, 2. Chris Centrone, 3. Paul Momirovski, 4. Dale Copley, 5. Josh Mantellato, 6. Jayden Nikorima, 7. Mitchell Cornish, 8. Jake Lewis, 9. Mitchell Williams, 10. Lindsay Collins, 11. Justin Toomey-White, 12. Christopher Smith, 13. Zane Tetevano. Interchange: 14. Eloni Vunakece, 15. Brock Molan, 16. Poasa Faamausili, 17. Brock Gray.
MATCH ANALYSIS
The Reserve Grade nib Newcastle Knights look forward to hosting the Wyong Roos in round two, after a disappointing result in New Zealand last weekend.
Cory Denniss was a late call-up last weekend, and remains in the side, while Jake McNamara replaces an injured Jack Cogger.
“Jack has gone in for surgery and it’s going to put him out for 14 weeks,” coach Simon Wooldford said.
“Jake has trained well all pre-season with our part time squad and he deserves his opportunity.”
UK import Joe Wardle is also added to the squad this week, and will make his first appearance for the Club.
“He just needed to get passed during the week, so I’m looking forward to seeing Joe play,” explained Woolford.
“He’s come out here with quite a few wraps and coach Nathan (Brown) has got quite a high opinion of Joe, so he’ll be a player that we (Reserve Grade) won’t have for long.”
Woolford maintains the Roos will be on a high after their 42-nil thrashing of the West Tigers last week and will reply on some of their experienced players to again lead the side.
“They’ve obviously got some NRL experience, (Mitchell) Cornish and (Jayden) Nikorima."
WHERE IT WILL BE WON
The Knights' ISP coach believes the Knights side needs improvement up front, particularly the middle players, following last week’s loss.
Woolford said against the Warriors they lost their way in the first half and re-grouped to win the second by 10-points.
“We’ve been focusing on what we did in that second half last week and we need to do that early in this weeks’ game,” he said.
The Reserve Grade Knights take on the Wyong Roos at McDonald Jones Stadium at 12.40pm this Saturday.
