Those 80 minutes on the weekend are what we bust our backsides for six days a week over the pre-season.

For us here at the Knights, the training has been shorter given the later start and maybe not as relentless as it was leading into last season but it has still been tough.

Now we get to put it all on the line against the Doggies tomorrow night in front of our home fans. You will see some subtle changes in our attack and the structure around it from last season.

We've got Connor [Watson] playing in the middle now and with the new rules, the games are going to be more open and you'll be playing what's in front of you a lot more because things will open up. We have worked hard on that with Connor and the spine and we'll see how the game plan works against the Dogs.

The first couple of weeks are going to be pretty important for us with Kalyn [Ponga] and Greeny [Blake Green] out of action from our spine. It's important we nail our execution but at the same time keep it simple, because while the rules may have changed, the fundamentals haven't.

You still have to hang on to the footy and make your tackles and with the game being more free-flowing now, it makes those fundamentals even more vital.

I was pretty vocal after the Melbourne trial where we dropped a lot of ball and gave away penalties. The rules has changed but it's only made it more important to get the little things right because once the momentum shifts, it's hard to contain teams with the six agains and the ball in play a lot more. Once you're fatigued from tackling, it's hard to wrestle back momentum.

For me personally, I'm feeling as good as I've ever felt going into round one. I had surgeries on my knee and thumb straight after last season finished and I'm feeling fit and strong and looking forward to making a big contribution against my former club.

There's been a bit made of me missing out on the leadership group and plenty of talk around that I was filthy about it. I was getting text messages about it with people saying 'what's going on with all this stuff' but none of it was right.

I never had my nose out of joint. I wasn't stressed about it. I actually sat down with Adzy [coach Adam O'Brien] when that stuff was coming out and he was probably thinking the same thing and asking me if I was alright. With all that stuff coming out, it was probably just people trying to throw some fire out there like they do to stir things up.

But I'm really comfortable with my role and looking forward to getting behind and supporting our co-captains Daniel [Saifiti] in his 100^th game and Brails [Jayden Brailey]. We'll be desperate for a win first up.

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