The Knights arrive in Auckland riding a 10-game winning streak and looking to ride the red-hot form of Kalyn Ponga all the way to an unlikely preliminary final berth.
A win over the Warriors would see the Knights equal the club record of 11 in a row, set back in 2001-02 when an Immortal named Johns was the hottest ticket in town.
After sending the Knights faithful home happy on Sunday, Adam O'Brien's men now need to find a way to win in a hostile environment in Auckland against a Warriors outfit that showed plenty of grit in its loss to the Panthers.
The scoreline finished at an unflattering 32-6 but given they trailed 20-0 at half-time and had just 43 per cent of possession for the match, the Warriors could take plenty of heart from the performance.
The Warriors opened the 2023 season with a win over the Knights in Wellington before Newcastle returned serve at McDonald Jones Stadium in Round 6, so plenty of water has flowed under the bridge since those two meetings.
With a trip to Brisbane for a preliminary final against the Broncos up for grabs, an intriguing contest awaits between two clubs who have given their fans much to be proud of 2023.
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Team News
Warriors: The Warriors are 1-17 with no late changes. Star halfback Shaun Johnson makes a welcome return from the calf injury that kept him out of the qualifying final loss to the Panthers. The No.7 was rested from training on Thursday before taking part in the captain's run on Friday. Dylan Walker returns to the bench. Taine Tuaupiki is 18th Man.
Knights: No late changes on game day after prop Daniel Saifiti dropped out due to a hamstring injury on Friday. Brodie Jones joins the bench in his 12th game of the season. Jackson Hastings (ankle) and Lachlan Fitzgibbon (shoulder) are both out of the sudden-death clash after picking up injuries against the Raiders. Adam Clune steps in at halfback as he did in the last three games of the regular season while Dylan Lucas joins the forward pack. Adam Elliott received a monetary fine for a careless high tackle charge arising from Sunday's game and is right to take his place. Fa'amanu Brown is 18th Man.
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Stat Attack
- The Knights will be playing for a club record-equalling 11 consecutive victories at Go Media Stadium.
- Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak requires two tries against the Knights to equal the Warriors’ record for most tries in a season, held by Francis Meli (2003) and David Fusitu’a (2018) with 23. DWZ has scored eight tries in his past six games at Go Media Stadium.
- Saturday night’s semi-final will be the first finals match played between the Warriors and the Knights.
- The Knights have won just eight of 22 matches at Go Media Stadium.
- Knights wingers Dom Young and Greg Marzhew have 46 tries between them in 2023 compared to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Marcelo Montoya's combined tally of 30.
- Warriors prop Addin Fonua-Blake is averaging 66 post-contact metres per game in 2023.
- The Warriors will play their first home final since 2008.
- The Warriors have won their past four games at Go Media Stadium.
- The Knights have won four of their past five games against the Warriors.
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Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the official annual of the NRL.