Manly man mountain Taniela Paseka has played just 16 minutes of NRL in three months but he's ready to double that tally and then some when David Klemmer and co come calling at 4 Pines Park on Saturday.
After averaging 118 metres per game across the first six rounds, Paseka suffered a knee injury in round seven against the Sharks and spent a frustrating six weeks on the sideline before returning through NSW Cup with Blacktown Workers.
With the strength returning to his knee and the Sea Eagles looking to return to the top eight for the first time since round nine, the 24-year-old was thrown into the fray against the Storm a fortnight ago.
Paseka bided his time on the bench for 55 minutes before the call came from coach Des Hasler to get out there and rip in as Manly looked to convert a 28-12 lead into two valuable premiership points.
Sea Eagles v Knights
Revelling in his comeback, Paseka took nine hit-ups for 85 metres and made six tackles before he was replaced with the Sea Eagles seemingly home and hosed at 36-12.
Four tries in five minutes to Melbourne ensured a nervous finish to the night but Manly hung on and now find themselves nestled in eighth spot with eight games to play.
With that 16-minute stint under his belt and two more weeks of training, Paseka is primed to return to his damaging best in the run to the finals.
"I had to work my way back into the squad after injury and I did that and I'm glad to be back in the team," Paseka told NRL.com on Tuesday.
Paseka suffers an injury
"There was no plan about how many minutes I would play [against Melbourne]. We had the majority of the ball while I was on there which was good, I didn’t have to defend that much.
"I was blowing pretty hard by the end of it but it was good to get used to first grade again.
"The Knights is a big game for us, they'll be fired up coming off a loss so we need to be ready for that.
"David Klemmer is one of those boys you have to match his aggression every time you play them. He uses his aggression to get his team going forward and we need to match that and more."
The veteran Knight let his frustration get the better of him in the closing minutes of last week's loss to Souths, squaring off with Keaon Koloamatangi before being sent off for dangerous contact on Daniel Suluka-Fifita.
Klemmer received a fine and is free to tackle the Sea Eagles in a match the Knights must win to have any chance of scraping into the eight.
Now in his 10th year of first grade, Klemmer is going as hard as ever, churning out 151 metres per game and hurling his body at defensive lines with the same intensity that earned him 19 caps for Australia and 14 Origins for NSW.
Match Highlights: Sea Eagles v Storm
One of the men looking to curb Klemmer's influence and send the Manly faithful home happy will be Haumole Olakau'atu, who has broken 35 tackles and run for 549 metres in his past four matches.
"We know we have to meet the Knights physically and if we do that we can turn that into points," said Olakau'atu.
"They have a big pack with Klemmer and the Saifiti brothers and we have to meet them head-on.
"We spoke a lot about front loading our energy against the Storm and we did that and we know we'll need to do it again.
"We haven't spoken too much about the fadeouts [against Cowboys and Storm]. Des just told us how good the starts were in those games and we know we need to bring the same energy to the start of every game."
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