There’s been no shortage of interest in our boys this week.
The nib Newcastle Knights attracted plenty of media attention and we’ve pulled together some of it in case you missed it.
Guerra confirmed as Nines co-captain
While we don't know the full make-up of the squad yet, our team for the NRL Nines is starting to take shape.
Aidan Guerra and Kurt Mann will lead the Knights at the tournament in Perth, with the rest of the squad to be announced in the coming weeks.
The captaincy news was broken by Robert Dillon this week in The Newcastle Herald, who had the opportunity to catch up with Guerra prior to the announcement.
As well as comparing the potential Nines squad to the one he won the competition with in 2017 at the Sydney Roosters, Guerra also spoke about his excitement to take on the competition again.
"The Nines definitely represents the end of pre-season and the start of football season," Guerra told the Herald.
"Everyone anticipates it, and as a carnival I've played in it twice before and it's good fun. It's a different style of football, a different brand, but you get to measure yourself against the other clubs and it's a good way to start the season."
Ponga's elevator fright
The Origin series may still be a number of months away, however Kalyn Ponga and co. are already plotting the Blues demise north of the border.
The pre-season camp with 33 current and emerging Origin prospects provided the banana-benders with an opportunity to bond, train and develop as players before the new season
Turns out, the bonding part of the camp was surprisingly boosted when an elevator malfunctioned, trapping five players and a staff member for two hours in extreme heat.
The players involved included Jai Arrow, Daly Cherry-Evans, Phillip Sami, Reed Mahoney and our very own Kalyn Ponga. The heat became so extreme the boys were forced to strip down to their underwear, simply in an effort to cope.
While bonding was a big reason for hosting the camp in the first place, Queensland coach Kevin Walters insisted the malfunction wasn't planned when quizzed on Channel Nine's Today show.
“It wasn’t something I set up, Alfie Langer was behind all of this, he wanted to just put the players under a bit of pressure in an elevator, just to see how they would handle it, and they handled it beautifully I can tell you.”
