This time last year, the Newcastle Knights' season was falling apart and they didn't even realise it.

One loss became two, and two quickly became six in a row. From the lofty heights of fifth position at the halfway point in their campaign, they found themselves outside the top eight, looking in, wondering what the hell had gone wrong.

Twelve months down the track, they're in no mood to make the same mistakes, which is why Saturday's 44-4 trouncing of Wests Tigers at McDonald Jones Stadium was, to use the words of captain Mitchell Pearce, a "vital win".

After consecutive losses to last-placed Canterbury and high-flying Melbourne - combined with a spate of injuries - long-suffering Knights fans were starting to notice a sense of deja vu.

Saturday's performance relieved the pressure, lifted Newcastle to sixth on the ladder and ensured the team song reverberated loud and proud through the corridors of McDonald Jones Stadium, and deservedly so.

"Although we've had a couple of disappointing weeks, we bounced back tonight and I'm really proud of the boys," no-nonsense back-rower Mitch Barnett said.

"I think this is the opportunity to set our season up."

Barnett joined the Knights midway through 2016 and, like teammates Daniel and Jacob Saifiti and Lachlan Fitzgibbon, is growing impatient for his first taste of finals football.

But having learned a harsh lesson last year, Barnett and his teammates are looking no further ahead than Sunday's home clash with traditional rivals Manly-Warringah.

"We're just trying to play week to week," Barnett said.

"I feel like last year we might have got ahead of ourselves, and we had that shocking end to the season.

"But this year there's a different feel about it. I don't want to make excuses, but we've been down on troops.

"Hopefully we get D Saf back next week and I think things will be looking a lot brighter for us."

The acquisition last week of proven big-game playmaker Blake Green should only enhance Newcastle's hopes of reaching the finals frontier for the first time since 2013.

"He gets his job done, everywhere he goes ... he understands his role," Knights coach Adam O'Brien said after the veteran five-eighth's debut. "He doesn't overdo it. He's just a good guy to have around."

O'Brien said Green and Pearce "look like the perfect couple at the moment".

Their relationship, at this early juncture, amounts to a little more than a one-night stand. The Novocastrian faithful can only hope it develops into something far more meaningful in the weeks to come.