Best, who has been in and out of the Knights side the past two years due to injuries, was pulled from the game midway through the first half after coming out of a tackle clutching his left knee.

The 20-year-old initially wanted to stay on the field but Knights officials were taking no chances given Best's record and after losing outside backs Hymel Hunt and 19-year-old Bailey Hodgson to significant injuries in the side's first trial last week.

"I'm all good," Best said after the game.

"I just sort of fell on the knee.

"It's just a little cork and I'll ice that up and I'll be right for round one."

Newcastle were without the Saifiti brothers against the Storm with both Daniel (foot) and Jacob (back) not making the trip to Ballarat due to minor injury concerns. They are expected to be right for round one.

The Storm held a 6-4 lead at the break after a relatively quiet first half but scored three tries in the second 40 minutes to run away with the result.

With 20 minutes left to play, Jake Clifford's try from a solo run brought the deficit back to only eight points at 18-10 but a Storm victory appeared likely.

The Knights had already pulled fullback Kalyn Ponga from the field after the Storm scored their second try at the 55^th minute mark and Clifford exited the game after his try.

Melbourne controlled the contest but the Knights certainly weren't bad and will take plenty from the trial.

Best opened the scoring in the sixth minute, finishing a nifty piece of play that started with a quick play-the-ball before halfback Adam Clune threw a cutout pass to winger Enari Tuala who then kicked inside to his centre.

The Storm hit back in the 11th minute through George Jennings, who sprinted to collect a Jahrome Hughes kick that caught Knights winger Tuala begging.

The Storm halfback went to the same right edge on multiple occasions and almost caught Tuala out on other occasions.

The Storm had two tries disallowed in the first half; the first by George Jennings who was ruled to have put the ball centimetres into touch as he put it down in the in-goal and the second by Nelson Asofa-Solomona who was deemed to have lost control of the ball.

Knights skipper Kalyn Ponga put a desperate tackle on the hulking Storm forward to prevent the try.

Storm hooker Tyran Wishart, the son of Illawarra legend Rod, was on the end of a Cameron Munster break and scored his side's second try in the 47th minute.

Felise Kaufusi scored in the 55th minute after the Storm isolated Knights halfback Adam Clune and put the big back-rower on his inside shoulder.

The Knights play the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground in round one.

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