Daniel Saifiti says the nib Newcastle Knights are on red alert for Jarryd Hayne, with the Parramatta livewire likely to return from injury this weekend.
Hayne has been sidelined with a hip flexor injury since late March but is pencilled in for Saturday's clash at ANZ Stadium.
"Hayne is obviously a classy player," Saifiti said.
"He brings a lot to the team.
"Not only ball running but with his presence on the field as well. They seem to grow an extra leg when he's on (the field).
"We'll definitely be wary if he's playing."
Having lost their previous four games, the Knights can use the Round 13 clash the perfect opportunity to relaunch their season.
A 38-point loss to Cronulla was a bitter pill to swallow but the forward is confident the team will be fired up and ready to tackle the Eels.
"Definitely," Saifiti replied when asked if he was confident they were a better team than that of the last couple of years.
"We're definitely better. We've shown it this year. We mightn't have shown it on the weekend but we're confident as a playing group we can turn it around really quick."
Saifiti was one of the few players coach Nathan Brown singled out with praise following Sunday's defeat but the 22-year-old took little joy from the comments.
The prop ran for 120 metres, the most of any Knights player, but still he wasn't satisfied with his own performance.
"It was pretty embarrassing, to be honest," Saifiti said.
"We had 20,000 people rock up and we didn't turn up. It's not what we're about. We feel like we've moved past that stage.
"Two years ago, against that team we got beat 62-0 and this feels 10 times worse. We know what team we've got here and what we can bring. That last four weeks haven't been acceptable."
