Knights five-eighth Tyson Gamble thinks his side’s upset victory against the Dolphins shows they are more than a “one-man team” who can’t win without Kalyn Ponga.
“We don't really want to look at what reporters say about us, but when Kalyn got injured, a lot of people wrote us off, and you look at that as a bit of motivation, we're more than just Kalyn Ponga," Gamble told NRL.com.
“We're a better team when he's in the team, but there's still 13 other blokes out there on the field as well that can get a win.
“I think we proved to ourselves and to everybody else in the league that we we're not a one-man-show and that we're here to win games.
“It's a good start to get our season back on track.”
Tyson Gamble Try
While the loss of Ponga - the reigning Dally M medal winner - for the next few months with a lisfranc injury is a huge blow, the Knights unearthed a new star in David Armstrong.
“Davey, he was awesome, he was unbelievable,” Gamble said.
“I think the nerves were there for him; first game here at Suncorp, too.
“It's a pretty big stadium to play at, but he handled himself really well Davey, he scored, that's what he does best.
“He was a freak tonight, and he's got a very long career ahead of him.”
This week, Newcastle’s attention turns to the Warriors, who have proven hard to beat in recent outings, including Round 4 where they went down 20-12 and last year in week two of the finals, which knocked them out of the premiership race.
This Sunday, the match will be in Newcastle, and although the Knights are likely to be without representative forward Jacob Saifiti as well as potentially Jed Cartwright and winger Greg Marzhew, they are hopeful of seeing Tyson Frizell make his return, while Jack Hetherington will also have also served his suspension.
Match: Knights v Warriors
Round 9 -
home Team
Knights
11th Position
away Team
Warriors
13th Position
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
However, Gamble said the team would take any further disruptions in their stride, with the team on the field to do their roles against a Warriors side looking to bounce back after their loss to the Titans last week.
"We've had that mentality for a while now, next man up,” Gamble said.
“We've got a few boys playing reserve grade that I think have the ability to stand up, it's next man up and they'll do their job when they come into the team.
“(Against the Warriors) you look back at that final we played against them, we probably didn't play our best footy and then we went over there again at the start of the year and didn't play our best footy, so it'd be nice to get one over the top of them.
“But, we've got to look to our recovery over the next few days to get a few boys right to get into training and hopefully, take the two points away from them.”
