And so it was with Kalyn Ponga in front of a 17,000 plus home crowd against the Sharks last night.

In desperate times, you need your marquees to stand up and that's exactly what he did.

For many of the Knights' big moments, it was the brilliant young fullback who was either instrumental in their creation or there to finish them off.

He scored the first try of the game, set up the second, set up the fourth and scored the match-winner with less than three minutes remaining as the Knights edged out the Sharks in an absolute thriller.

That he did it despite being under the weather with a virus that left him camped on the toilet for large periods of the previous 24 hours and physically ill during the game made his contribution even more astonishing.

You sometimes just have to shake your head at his whizardry. He created a try for Mitch Barnett in the first half out of nothing through sheer will, finishing his burst with an exquisite short pass in traffic close to the Sharks try-line for his backrower to touch down. But that was only the appetizer.

His try assist for Brodie Jones in the second half, where he went on a sideways run before accelerating through defenders and then finding his centre with a superb inside ball, was sheer brilliance.

No player since Andrew Johns at this club has had the ability to influence the outcome of games like Ponga can. But importantly for coach Adam O'Brien, he had plenty of willing helpers.

It wasn't a great performance by the Knights by any stretch. Their second half in particular, where they let a 20-12 lead slip will be scrutinised by the coaching staff next week in the build up to next weekend's clash against Penrith.

But it was a far cry from the docile effort they put in on the Gold Coast the previous week. O'Brien was looking for a reaction and he got one. Don't underestimate what a win like that, when they looked down and out at the death, will do for this team.

If Ponga was brilliant, unheralded Brodie Jones was only a whisker behind him in man-of-the-match stakes.

Thrust into the game in the centres after just seven minutes when Hymel Hunt tore a hamstring, Jones was outstanding.

Normally a lock or backrower off the bench, he had several big moments of his own both in attack and defence as the Sharks peppered the Knights right edge all night.

He saved two tries through sheer want and positioned himself perfected to score off Ponga in the second half.

But he saved his best moment until the end. With the minutes ticking away, he fielded an ill-directed cross-field bomb from Blake Green before creating space for Tyson Frizell to find Ponga for the matchwinner.

Again, the Knights were on the receiving end of another controversial try over-ruling from the video referee as well as blatant forward pass that was missed only a minute before the Sharks edged ahead.

Both decisions left the home-side seething and O'Brien biting his tongue after the game.

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