Fresh from signing a three-year contract extension that will see him become the Knights’ longest serving coach, Adam O’Brien is adamant the club is in the healthiest position it has been since he arrived in the Hunter in 2020.
After riding a 10-game winning streak all the way to the second week of last year’s finals, O’Brien says he can feel something brewing in Newcastle and he is excited to be part of something that is “trending in the right direction”.
“The progress the whole club has made is great,” O’Brien O’Brien told media on Thursday.
“There’s so many areas behind the scenes that we have grown and hopefully a long way down the track I get to sit back and be proud that I was part of creating that culture here.
“Our group have come back in outstanding shape and allowed us to build on the footy model we created at the back end of last year.
“I’m highly motivated to keep working with the playing group we have and the guys that have come in have only added to that.
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“The guys that have come in not only suit the way we want to play but we can suit them. They have been great additions.”
Former Panthers Jack Cogger and Tom Jenkins and ex-Rabbitoh Jed Cartwright are in the 17 for this weekend’s Pre-Season Challenge clash against the Sharks while Englishman Will Pryce is listed among the reserves.
Coming off a superb cameo at five-eighth in Penrith’s grand final win over Brisbane, Cogger will wear jersey No.14 while Jenkins starts on the wing and Cartwright in the second row.
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One man who won’t be in action in Gosford is 2023 Dally M Medal winner Kalyn Ponga, who is being held back another week before the Knights take on the Storm in Fiji in Round 2 of the Pre-Season Challenge.
After missing a number of games early in the 2023 due to ongoing concussion concerns and then sitting out the Origin series, Ponga produced a string of dynamic displays as the Knights charged into the top eight and edged out Canberra in a thrilling elimination final on home soil.
Heading into the new season the 25-year-old has thrived over the summer and is ready to lead the club’s charge for a first premiership since 2001.
“Kalyn doesn’t need this weekend, he has played about 30 games this summer with the way he has attacked the training both in contact and the skill work and how he is in the gym,” O’Brien said.
“He’ll play in Fiji but his summer has been a whole lot of games really.
“We know these trial games won’t be as fluent as we’d like but we can still use snippets of what we have worked on over the pre-season.”
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