NSW Cup preview: Knights v Jets

NEWTOWN JETS V NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Round 18, 2013 NSW Cup
3pm, Saturday, July 13
Henson Park
Referee: Brett Suttor
| Team Changes |
Coach Rick Stone has been forced to make a number of changes to his Round 18 team with Kevin Naiqama, Josh Mantellato, Peter Mata’utia and Matt Hilder unavailable due to NSW Cup rep duties.
In their place, Will Smith shifts to fullback, Anthony Quinn will play on the wing and Siuatonga Likiliki moves into the centres.
“It was great to see Quinny come back last week,” he said.
“He is an experienced player and I think it was a good milestone for him to come back after undergoing a double eye operation and being out for ten weeks.
“He played 50 minutes for us last week which is a positive.”
Zane Tetevano returns to the side after two games with the NRL side and Mitchell Frei will start at lock.
Chris Adams (finger) and Rodney Mason (knee) will also return to the side after missing Round 17 due to injury.
| NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS |
W Smith, Quinn, Tahu, S Likiliki, C Mata’utia, Randell, A Davis, T Likiliki, Adams, D Smith, Tetevano, Mason, Frei. Bench: Redman, Hartin, Vaivai, Tupou.
| Newtown Jets |
Wells, Rokolati, Gordon, Henry, Taripo, Jones, Jacks, Moujalli, Kara, Deeb, Verlinden, Barrett, Ailaomai. Bench: Pearn, TBA, Houma, Seluini.
| Bottom Line |
The Newcastle Knights travel to Henson Park on Saturday to take on the Newtown Jets, after their match was postponed earlier in the season.
The Knights go in to this week’s match on the back of a strong win over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs last weekend.
“We had to work hard against the Bulldogs and I really enjoyed the last 15 minutes and how we closed out the game,” the coach added.
“It was a tight tussle but we controlled the ball and put together a couple of tries to finish the game."
The sixth-placed Jets bounced back from a disappointing loss to the Mounties in Round 16 to defeat the Wentworthville Magpies by two points in Round 17.
Stone said the side face another challenging match this week without four of their regular players.
“We will be without our rep players which is a big hole for us to fill but we will sort that out during the week,” he said.
“We let ourselves down a bit during last weekend’s game when we took the foot off the pedal a couple of times.
“We need to be a bit more ruthless especially playing away from home.”
Source : http://www.newcastleknights.com.au