Outside, the rain is lashing down and the wind is howling. But inside the inner sanctum in the bowels of McDonald Jones Stadium, it's the calm before the storm.

Players are seated, deathly quiet and looking relaxed. All eyes are fixated on coach Adam O'Brien. Watching on are a handful of coaching staff.

O'Brien has been up since 5.30 am, a sleep-in for him. He's has a quick dip ["in and straight out"] at Merewether beach, enjoyed home-cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and has gone back over video of meetings he's held during the week.

He drives himself to the stadium, arriving around 12.30pm and goes over what he will say to his players before fulfilling his media commitments with Fox and Triple M.

He's nervous ["always am from the night before games"] and is chewing on jelly snakes.

"It's the only time of the week I eat lollies for the sugar hit," he says. "There is nothing wrong with nerves. I think it shows how much it means to you."

O'Brien is cool and calm and reminds his players about what had been talked about all week. About them re-setting the competition ladder for the final 10 rounds and forgetting about what has already happened this season.

"It starts today," he says. "Today is our round one.

"The conditions suit us. I'll tell you why they suit us - because we have got two of the best kickers in the competition playing with us. We need to utilise that. We need to kick well.

"We are running into the wind in the first half - we need to get through our sets. We need to get to good launch areas for these two blokes [Mitchell Pearce and Jake Clifford] to kick well.

"We need to be really deliberate with our attack. Don't be out there looking for answers that aren't there. Be deliberate. There'll be no excuse for not having good discipline with our ball control, particularly in the play-the-ball. Stay switched on, be in control, don't give anything up cheaply.

"Play nice and straight and land on your fronts and win the in-between moments. That's where our points will come today. It won't be the shape we've been dreaming of playing all week, it will be the in-between moments. The chasing kicks, the scraping for everything.

"The number one thing though in round one games and in these types of conditions is getting the defence in order. We defended great in the opening rounds this year and the start of last year - lets get back to that.

"Let's get our first contact going, our hit-and-stick, and make absolutely every one of them count. We are not going in half-arsed, hit 'em hard and bring 'em down. We need to be putting pressure on their attack with our defence."

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Up until that point, O'Brien has made no mention of the Warriors and the attacking threat of their young fullback Reece Walsh.

They had done their homework on the opposition during the week in the build-up. But he again emphasises the need to make Walsh feel as uncomfortable as possible.

"Lets get to our kicks and let's give this young bloke a real welcoming," he says. "Let's get a thick line down on him and make this a real horrible place, not just with the conditions, but a real horrible place full-stop.

"Kick 'em to death, chase them down, be disciplined with it and attack them with everything early in the tackle count. That's what you blokes do. If there is one thing we are known for it's that.

"Remember, today is our round one. Everything up until this point is irrelevant. We have our own competition, our own ladder and our own reasons to play well."

O'Brien acknowledges the return of Mitchell Pearce, David Klemmer and Hymel Hunt, telling his team, "we know what they are going to bring".

Then it's warm-up time. He sends them out with: "Give our fans a performance they can be proud of".

While the backs head outside to warm up, the forwards stay behind briefly to be taken through their trademarks for the game by assistant coach Rory Kostjasyn before they depart.

O'Brien stays behind, eager for the 3 pm kick-off to arrive.

"The night games are worse......all that waiting around," he says.

The first half is a tough slog into a gale and to come off at the break 6-4 down feels like a win. The two major highlights of the first 40 are skipper Jayden Brailey's inspirational chase and try-saver on a runaway Walsh and Lachlan Fitzgibbon's hit-and-spin for his side's only try.

The players charge through the inside warm-up area pumped with Daniel Saifiti yelling encouragement as they file into the change room. They grab a drink and take a seat.

O'Brien is again calm and measured, telling his players they have shown plenty of heart in the opening 40, running into the wind.

He highlights Brailey's unbelievable effort, Fitzgibbon's try and singles out Mitch Barnett for his great defence on the edge.

He says the defensive blueprint for the second half was the character they showed in keeping the Warriors out on their own line in the final set with Fitzgibbon in the sin bin. He wants the attacking emphasis in the second half to be on taking the Warriors on up the middle.

"Our most joy is coming through the ditch, straight through the middle," he says. "Running hard and back on inside shoulders.

"They can't get themselves back on side. They have had five repeats against 'em already. Just don't get sick of it. Sometimes with the boring things, you think they are not working but it's working. I can tell you it's working.

"We're running into cyclone yasi and we've made just two interchanges. They've made more than us so don't get sick of just driving at 'em. Do not fall out of love with going through them in good ball."

He wants his team to lose the mentality of the "three-pass" and tells them "you are not going to finesse your way around them. Not today."

Profoundly, he says: "Go at them through the middle. Our tries will come off the back of that. Persevere. It might take until the death but persevere. Don't fall out of love with that.

"So is everybody really clear - there should be no more messages going out about how we attack with the football. Nice and direct and we keep going through them. Don't get excited about tries off shapes. It's the in-between moment tries - they are worth the same points."

O'Brien also highlights the importance of the kicking game and the discipline around the chase and staying on-side and not giving away cheap possession by getting pinged for jumping the gun in defence.

"Give them an extra metre because in this wind, it ain't going to hurt us or help them and when we get back out there, front-load your energy. Go out and get it done," he says.

With that, the buzzer sounds and it's on again. The players gather in a huddle and there's final words from Brailey and encouragement from everyone before they head back out.

The Knights lose Kurt Mann to an ankle injury midway through the half as neither side can find a killer punch with the scores locked at 6-all following a Clifford penalty goal.

Brailey produces more inspiration, charging down a Walsh field-goal with six minutes left before Enari Tuala spears through a hole up the middle in the lead-up to Brodie Jones' matchwinner four minutes from time.

Despite looking exhausted, there's no hiding the beaming smiles as the players are greeted by O'Brien, Danny Buderus and other members of the coaching staff as they file back into the rooms after the game.

Clifford is the last to join his teammates after completing media commitments.

O'Brien again addresses his men, telling them how proud he is of their fight and resolve in defence and the fact they always turned up for each other.

"That is a really important part of the game - being there for your teammate. If you get something wrong, it doesn't mean it's a disaster," he tells them. "We have spoken about looking after each other and I thought we were great with that today.

"I've told you guys from day one you have to love your defence and you have to love games like that. That's footy - rain belting down, blowing a gale and backs to the wall stuff," he says. "That sort of desperate, it builds character.

"You ended up breaking them in the end. I thought the opposition was brave but we spoke about going through them and Nars [Enari Tuala], that was a big play mate at the death."

O'Brien gave special mention to several other players and then, with the squad being given the week off heading into the bye, reminded them of their trademark key words and to not lose sight of them over the next 10 weeks.

"We want you to get a rest but we need everyone back cherry ripe. Be committed to what we all want to get out of this 10 weeks," he says.

It's then that he calls his players and entire support staff into a circle to belt out the team song before the volume on their victory song - The Killers' Mr. Brightside - chosen by the players at the start of the season, is cranked up nice and loud.

The smiles and back-slapping among this tight-knit bunch show exactly what winning means to them.

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