The Knights and Dragons have both confirmed their final 17 ahead of their Round 16 NRL Telstra Premiership clash at Hunter Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The home side will take the field as named on Tuesday, with Josh King, Chanel Mata'utia and Pauli Pauli all dropping off an extended bench.
In a double boost for the Dragons, Josh Dugan will start at fullback in jersey No.19, while Tyson Frizell will back up from State of Origin II starting at lock in jersey No.21. Jason Nightingale moves to the wing with Kurt Mann and Mike Cooper dropping out of the 17.
Newcastle Knights
1 Dane Gagai
2 Nathan Ross
3 Sione Mata'utia
4 Peter Mata'utia
5 Brendan Elliot
6 Jack Cogger
7 Trent Hodkinson (c)
8 Sam Mataora
9 Danny Levi
10 Korbin Sims
11 Jacob Saifiti
12 Mitchell Barnett
13 Jeremy Smith (c)
Interchange
14 Tyler Randell
15 Robbie Rochow
16 Daniel Saifiti
17 Mickey Paea
St George Illawarra Dragons
19 Josh Dugan
2 Kalifa Faifai Loa
3 Euan Aitken
4 Tim Lafai
1 Jason Nightingale
6 Gareth Widdop (c)
7 Benji Marshall
8 Leeson Ah Mau
9 Mitch Rein
10 Russell Packer
11 Jacob Host
12 Joel Thompson
21 Tyson Frizell
Interchange
14 Jack de Belin
15 Will Matthews
16 Dunamis Lui
17 Jake Marketo
