Newcastle Knights prop David Klemmer: We can spring another upset over the Roosters

Sure, we might not be stringing many wins together right now, but no one gave us a chance of winning the season opener either.

We were coming off a big preseason back then and everyone was pretty excited to get down to the SCG for our first game.

No one was really backing us and we had our backs against the wall. I think we were the only ones that believed that we could win.

We definitely touched on the pundits writing us off leading into that game. I remember going down to Sydney that day on the bus and everyone had their heads on. I knew we were up for a big game. There were plenty of nerves but we had belief.

Early in the game, the Roosters had a try disallowed and then it went back and forth for a little while.

But we got out to a bit of a lead and I think that allowed us to grow another leg.

Then we just hung in there for the win. It was a massive defensive effort. I thought we were outstanding that day.

READ MORE: Knights to face 'completely different' Roosters to the team they upset in March: Saifiti

Going down there and shocking them, it was a quality team performance and we held our own. It was a weird feeling, but it was inspiring to see everyone so switched on and fighting for each other.

Looking back on it this week, we need to work out what we did so well that day and implement it on Friday.

There's clips in that game that show us we can beat this team, and we can compete.

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Seeing that again and having that belief that we can do it, it's definitely doable.

We can beat them.

But to do that, we've got to get over our loss to Manly. We were all pretty shattered Saturday night. The first half we played pretty well, but in the second after 10 or 15 minutes it just snowballed. It was very disappointing.

Adam is doing all the right things for us as a coach at training and getting us right. We can't fault anything like that, it's just us not sticking to the game plan or turning up. We're just not getting it right on the field. We're only playing a good 40 or 50 minutes.

On another note, the women have joined us this week for their first preseason at the centre of excellence. We've only really crossed paths, but I know they're stoked to begin training.

They've got a tough couple of weeks coming up.

The NRLW coach Ron Griffiths has asked me to come down and give them a hand at some point and I'm pumped to help them.

The growth of the women's game has been massive in recent years.

To see where it's come from, amateur level to semi-professional to now almost full-time, it's huge for getting people involved in the game.

Especially young girls, getting an opportunity to play for Newcastle and on TV as well.

I can't wait to see how our girls go this season.

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