THEY will kick off the season with a new coach and new playing style, but Knights workhorse Tim Glasby denies any transition period will be required and expects his teammates to make an instant impact against the Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
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"I think we're ready to go in round one," Glasby said.
"We've had three of four months to train it. We've had a couple of [trial] games to play it.
"At the end of the day, early games in the season can be a bit scratchy, in terms of the attack or the shape you're throwing at teams, but the one thing we've worked on more than anything is our defence and our resilience.
"You'd expect that can come up pretty quickly, so I've got full confidence that we can get out and do a good job."
Like Glasby, rookie coach Adam O'Brien spent his formative years with Melbourne Storm, who over the past 15 seasons have been the NRL's benchmark club in terms of toughness and consistency.
O'Brien's job will be to instil such qualities into a Newcastle team who last season lost nine of their last 12 games - including two of the most embarrassing defeats in the club's history - to crash out of finals contention.
Glasby said that if the Knights played on Saturday as they had trained during the pre-season, "that will put us in a really good position to come away with the win".
"It's been a very long pre-season, very tough, but we've had a big lead-in and everyone's raring to go," he said.
The Queensland Origin middle forward was a regular in Newcastle's starting line-up last season, making 21 appearances, but was waiting to learn what role O'Brien wants him to play in the season opener.
Glasby, Aidan Guerra and Herman Ese'ese appear to be in contention for one starting spot.
"I guess I'll just slot in wherever Adam wants me to," Glasby said. "If he wants me to come off the bench, that's fine. I did that for years at Melbourne, so I'm comfortable playing that role. If he wants me to start I can do that as well. I dare say it will change throughout the year."
Glasby said the Warriors traditionally boasted "big outside backs and a fullback with great footwork", as well as hard-running heavyweight forwards.
Warriors skipper Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is no certainty to play, having suffered an ankle injury in the recent trial match against Wests Tigers. He will need to prove his fitness later in the week.
