Knights coach Adam O'Brien is cautiously hopeful of reuniting the spine of Jayden Brailey, Pearce and Ponga for the first time since March last year in a crunch game at McDonald Jones Stadium.

But there will be no Bradman Best, who almost singlehandedly won the game for the Knights when these two sides last met in round two in Gosford.

Best will have surgery on Wednesday to repair a syndesmosis sprain in his left ankle that is set to sideline him for between six to eight weeks after scans confirmed the worst following the loss to Souths.

With Best sidelined, O'Brien has moved Enari Tuala from the right wing to left centre to partner Dom Young on that edge with Hunt to form a new partnership on the right with Kurt Mann.

But all eyes will be on Ponga with the star fullback desperate to play and also prove his fitness for Origin II.

O'Brien admits Ponga, who trained lightly with the squad on Tuesday, still has some work to do to prove he is completely over the groin tear that has sidelined him for the past five matches.

"KP went through a lot of rehab stuff and only spent a little bit of time with the team today," O'Brien told the Newcastle Herald on Tuesday.

"He's still got a few more boxes to tick yet but we'll definitely know more after our big session tomorrow with how he goes in that and how he pulls up afterwards.

"I'm hopeful but given our luck with them [injuries], I'm not getting ahead of myself."

O'Brien admitted the sight of Ponga, Pearce and Brailey back together is a confidence boost for everyone.

"We only went through some light stuff but it was the first time Junior and KP have done anything meaningful together this year," he said.

"It's good to watch when you've got Brailey passing to Pearce, passing to Ponga so we're hopeful we get to see our long-term spine together for the first time since round two last year.

"It was also good to see Mitch and Cliff [Jake Clifford] working together too for the first time. I'm excited by that as well."

The return of Hunt after his troublesome hamstring saw him miss a total of seven games also gives the side a much stronger look out wide.

"He brings us a really strong carry off our line which is an area we have really struggled in plus he gives us experience in our edge defence which is obviously something we have really lacked," O'Brien said.

The coach said Klemmer's return from suspension off the bench rather than in his customary starting role is more a reward for Daniel and Jacob Saifiti rather than a demotion for Klemmer.

"Klem's had a couple of games off so might be lacking a little bit in match fitness but starting the two Safs is just a reward for the way they led from the front last weekend," he said.

"I thought they were both outstanding for us so we'll go with that combination again and see how it goes. I'm really confident in what Klem will bring for us coming on when he gets his chance.

"We haven't run out there with this team yet but I'm really hopeful we can get there.

"That will be a lot fairer gauge of where we are at rather than what's been the case for the past 10 weeks with more than half our cap not being on the field."

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