WESTS Tigers coach Michael Maguire shapes as an ominous obstacle to Nathan Brown's hopes of reaching the play-offs in his last season at the Knights' helm.
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Newcastle officials announced on Tuesday that Brown's four-year tenure would end this season, leaving him three games in which to steer the Knights into the finals for the first time since 2013.
The Knights and Tigers clash at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Saturday in what is a do-or-die showdown for both teams, given that they are both level pegging, two points adrift of the top eight.
While the Knights have a 79-point superior for-and-against record, the Tigers have a clear advantage in Maguire's remarkable record coaching against Newcastle.
During his six seasons in charge of South Sydney, from 2012 to 2017, the Rabbitohs beat the Knights in eight consecutive games by an overall score of 285-90, or 35-11 on average.
He extended his 100 per cent record to nine games when the Tigers beat Newcastle 28-26 at McDonald Jones Stadium last month.
Another win on Saturday would allow Maguire to match Wayne Bennett's 10-game winning streak against Newcastle, set between 1988 and 1993 during his time at Brisbane Broncos.
Maguire's head-to-head record against Newcastle coaches is 4-0 versus Bennett, 1-0 versus Rick Stone and 4-0 against Brown.
The Tigers have lost their past two games, against Canterbury and Manly, and injuries to Robbie Farah and Jacob Liddle mean that Josh Reynolds has been recalled as a stopgap hooker.
The Knights have reinstated Kiwi international Danny Levi as dummy-half, after Connor Watson suffered a knee injury in last week's 42-6 win against North Queensland.
Levi finds himself in an intriguing situation where Saturday's game could be an unofficial audition for a job with both clubs.
The 23-year-old Kiwi international is under contract to Newcastle for next season but has been told he is free to explore alternative options, after the Knights announced recently that they had signed Jayden Brailey from Cronulla.
Brown's departure, however, could be a game changer if Newcastle's incoming coach decides Levi is worth retaining.
The Tigers, meanwhile, could be in the market for a new hooker, given that Farah is retiring at the end of this season and Liddle will spend the off-season recovering from a knee reconstruction.
As he has done for most of the season, Levi said his only focus was helping to win games and hopefully make the finals.
"We've got the belief that we can do it," Levi said.
"The boys did an awesome job last weekend and hopefully I can step in there and help back that up ... I've always dreamt of what it's like to play in the finals, to experience that sort of atmosphere, so fingers crossed we can get in there."
He said the Knights were well aware that the Tigers "will be just as desperate as we are".