Rejuvenated Knights captain Kurt Gidley believes the Knights are more than capable of making a late finals charge after beating the Sharks 30-18 on Sunday afternoon.
With the Knights' three-game winning streak coinciding with Gidley's move to halfback , the club captain didn't blink twice when affirming the Knights could still make the finals despite it already being at a point in the season where the calculator and abacus will need a good work-out for it to happen.
With the Knights' three-game winning streak coinciding with Gidley's move to halfback , the club captain didn't blink twice when affirming the Knights could still make the finals despite it already being at a point in the season where the calculator and abacus will need a good work-out for it to happen.
"It's good to get a few wins in a row, we had two wins before the bye, which people said could have stalled our run at the moment but we came here today with plenty of belief after the last couple of games and we're enjoying our footy," Gidley said.
"I think you could see that in the second half and over the past month that we're starting to enjoy our footy because we're playing smarter. I'm not sure about the mathematics of it all but if we keep doing our job then we might be a chance but we're focused on next week now.
"Next week is... probably one of the more important games that we need to win."
While the Knights were shocked at midweek news coach Wayne Bennett would be moving on he added he was not concerned by any influence it may have had on his troops despite Newcastle having to come back from an 18-0 deficit to secure the win.
"There have been a lot of distractions off the field at different times throughout the year but when it comes to training time and playing time we know how to switch on," Gidley said.
"In that first half we were out-enthused which is the disappointing thing but we spoke about it at halftime that we needed to play a bit simpler and we completed our sets and that just built a bit of confidence in us for the second half."
In what will be music to Knights fans ears the club has now reached a point in the season where six of their remaining eight games in the regular season will be played at Hunter Stadium and Gidley is certainly excited about the prospect.
"We said that at the start of the year that we had a fair run at the backend of the year with plenty of home games and we weren't too flash at the beginning of the season with our home games so it will be nice to hopefully rack up a few wins for our home supporters because they deserve better performances at home," Gidley said.
With Newcastle's opponents next weekend, the Gold Coast Titans losing to the Raiders on Sunday, and the RiseForAlex round sure to inspire the community, the Knights remain in good stead to make it four wins straight and add another two points to the mathematical calculations.
