KNIGHTS coach Nathan Brown will unleash twin towers Daniel and Jacob Saifiti – as well as three other NRL debutants – as a new era kicks off in Sunday’s season-opening clash with Gold Coast at CBus Stadium.
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The 19-year-old Saifitis will be joined in Newcastle’s round-one squad by utility forward David Bhana, a former Warriors lower-grader, fullback Jaelen Feeney and centre Pat Mata’utia, all of whom are rookies.
In addition, Newcastle will field star recruits Trent Hodkinson (Canterbury) and Pauli Pauli (Parramatta), which means they will have seven new faces.
Brown said last week some of Newcastle’s players “probably didn’t do themselves justice’’ in the 34-28 trial loss to Canberra. It appears Jake Mamo, Danny Levi, Jack Stockwell and Nathan Ross did not measure up to his expectations, while experienced import Mickey Paea is unavailable because of a knee injury.
Brown said at Newcastle’s season launch on Friday night that he was prepared to be patient with Generation Next.
“With young kids, things tend to go up and down a little bit . . . we would like them to compete hard, regularly, and improve on a week-to-week basis,’’ Brown said.
“People need to understand the younger players will do some things wrong, as all the people in the crowd have done some things wrong over the journey. That’s part of maturing.’’
Brown’s new-look team is in stark contrast to the sides master coach Wayne Bennett fielded between 2012 and 2014, which featured more over-30s than any club in the NRL.
This time last year, the Saifitis were preparing for their National Youth Competition debuts. The Entrance Tigers juniors are still eligible for under-20s, but they have been fast-tracked into the NRL after outstanding pre-seasons.
* Former Knights star Adam MacDougall will advertise his “Man Shake” on the club’s jerseys this year, in a sponsorship deal reported to be worth $300,000.
