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Injury update: Brown unsure on Ponga and Watson

Nathan Brown isn't sure whether Kalyn Ponga or Connor Watson will be fit to take the field on Friday night.

Both men travelled with the team to Townsville on Wednesday ahead of the nib Newcastle Knights' match with North Queensland but will need to complete training on Thursday.

Ponga rolled his ankle at training on Tuesday, while Watson has been battling an ankle issue.

"I'm not playing any games, I'm not too sure if he'll play or not," Brown said.


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"He and Connor will both have a run tomorrow (Thursday).

"KP's hamstring is fine. He's had three good sessions so his hamstring is fine (but) he actually hurt his ankle yesterday (Tuesday) which is the honest truth of it.

"How he goes, I don't really know and Connor hasn't trained yet.

"He's got a bit of a problem too."

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Should either man fail to take the field in Round 20, the Knights do have troops on standby with Nick Meaney and Jack Cogger both making the trip north.

"They'll try and do captains run. If they come through well, they'll play, if not we've got Nick Meaney here for KP who has obviously played the last two games and improved on both performances," Brown said.

"Jack Cogger's here if Connor's no good.

"We'd like them both to play but if we got one, we'd probably be pretty lucky."

If Ponga does take the field, it will be the first time he's faced off against his former team.

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Not only is it a great opportunity for the fullback to face-off with his former Club but also the first and only chance he'll get to play against the retiring Johnathan Thurston.

"I think he's excited to play for a number of reasons," Brown said of Ponga

"Obviously he has an affiliation, a bit of history with the club. Being JT's last game (against the Knights). Anyone who has played against JT for a fair period of time understands the respect he's got in the game. The fact it's going to be the last time he plays the Knights, that probably holds a bit of significance to KP.

"You see the way he gets treated at the end of each game shows how well he's thought of. I think KP is keen to play every game but there's numbers of reasons which makes him keen to play this week."