Knights coach Adam O'Brien has been carefully assessing his players for months.
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They've been slugging it out all summer, working to prove they should be in the 17 for the season opener against the Raiders on March 7.
O'Brien says the players have been on "audition" each and every day during pre-season training.
But with multiple positions still up for grabs, the newly re-signed mentor says performances in today's trial against Cronulla, and next week against Melbourne, could prove crucial to solving a few welcome "selection headaches".
"They'll certainly play a big factor in it," the coach said, when asked how much influence the trials would have, specifically referencing a vacant wing position.
"We've got Greg [Marzhew] there on the left side.
"The summer, no doubt they're on audition every day that they're out there.
"We've got guys like Enari Tuala that is very dependable. I think Tom Jenkins coming in has been a really good signing for us.
"There's no doubt that those guys, without heaping a whole lot of pressure on them, that in conjunction with their summer will go a long way for me to make a decision round one."
Apart from trying to find a replacement for departed winger Dominic Young, O'Brien faces tough calls on who will be the starting halves and who partners Tyson Frizell in the back row.
Incumbent duo Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble start at halfback and five-eighth, respectively, against the Sharks in Gosford.
O'Brien plans to give the trio about 40 minutes each, but given how they all performed last season it remains anyone's guess who he might pick round one.
Cogger won a title with Penrith, producing a crucial grand final cameo, while Hastings and Gamble excelled in their first Knights campaigns.
Phoenix Crossland has the edge in the race for the No.9 jumper. Jayden Brailey has a minor hamstring issue but is a chance to travel to Fiji to take on the Storm .
In the back row, Lachlan Fitzgibbon's departure for Super League has opened up a place for an edge-forward.
English recruit Kai Pearce-Paul appears the front-runner but has had a disrupted pre-season due to injury and won't feature in Gosford.
Dylan Lucas, who replaced Fitzgibbon at times last year, and former South Sydney forward Jed Cartwright are considered the other lead contenders and start today.
Frizell has been rested.
"They're good headaches to have," O'Brien said.
"I've had the alternative.
"The four guys that have come in not only suit the way we want to play, I feel like we can suit them. They've been great additions and there's nothing better than having healthier competition and applying some pressure to each other to perform each week."
Other inclusions in the 28-man squad are fellow Englishman Will Pryce and Cessnock young gun Fletcher Sharpe, at fullback.
Fellow custodian David Armstrong, who has attracted Super League interest, is on an extended bench alongside Pryce.
The trial is part of the NRL's Pre-Season Challenge, but O'Brien said winning the $100,000 tournament was not a focus.
"You're looking at both team and individual performances," he said. "Opportunities for not only established first-graders, but also some young kids that have impressed over the pre-season. Because of the nature of trials, you're constantly running different people on, it won't be as fluent as you'd like."
Skipper Kalyn Ponga, Jayden Brailey, Bradman Best and the club's All Stars representatives Dane Gagai, Leo Thompson and Adam Elliott are not playing.
