The Knights' thumping 38-12 win over the Sydney Roosters at McDonald Jones Stadium back in round 11 left fans daring to dream of what might be possible this season.

But less than two months later, those same fans are hoping a Roosters side seeking revenge and retribution don't sour those memories at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson played down the significance of his side's previous meeting with the Knights on Friday but left no-one in any doubt there were lingering scars when he said: "You don't forget the past. We remember."

Experienced Knights lock Tim Glasby expects the Roosters to have taken some lessons out of their big loss away from home.

"Good teams review well so I'm sure they would have had a look at that and be looking to come out really strongly against us and getting a good start," he said. "We need to be ready for that.

"We certainly know what worked well for us last time so there are certain things that we want to do that we did back then. But at the same time, it was a while ago now and the Roosters would have worked on their game and things have changed since then."

Among the big changes are in personnel. The Roosters didn't have halfback general Cooper Cronk, who missed the defeat after being rested while five-eighth Luke Keary lasted less than 10 minutes before he was assisted off with concussion. Hooker Jake Friend was also sidelined and missed the game. All three will be on deck this time.

Plenty of questions will be answered. The Knights more than matched the much-vaunted Roosters pack in Newcastle but can they deliver another victory in the centre of the park battle which will be crucial if playmakers Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga are to conjure up the points to guarantee another win? And can the Knights keep Blues' Origin hero James Tedesco, who returns at fullback after a week off to freshen up, on a tight leash?

With the Knights in a log-jam of teams around the bottom of the eight, Glasby knows how important these games, coming off the back of the Origin period, will be come the end of the season.

"Every game's important and what happens now can affect what happens later on so we have to make sure we're on top of that now," he said. "There is a big group of teams around that sort of mark so there is no easy way to look at it - you just have to win games. To win games you have to perform well and to perform well, you have to train well and it flows back through that. We have to focus on a few things that we need to work on from the past few weeks.

"They are a good footy side who are consistently good. They may have lost a few games recently but I'm sure they will be a big challenge for us tomorrow."