Newcastle coach looks to make big change
NATHAN Brown will sensationally axe star centre Jesse Ramien along with hooker Danny Levi and interchange forward Herman Ese’ese when he names his Newcastle team today to take on Manly this Saturday.
With the Knights fighting to save their season after last round’s shock loss to Wests Tigers saw them drop out of the top eight, Brown will also make a stack of positional changes for the crucial clash at Lottoland.
Connor Watson will be promoted from the interchange bench to take Levi’s place at hooker while Lachlan Fitzgibbon returns from injury with Sione Mata’utia expected to be relegated to the bench.
Mason Lino will also come into the starting team at fiveeighth with Kurt Mann moving to the wing, allowing Hymel Hunt to take Ramien’s centre spot.
Jacob Saifiti and veteran Aidan Guerra will also be included on the bench.
The loss to the Tigers was the Knights’ fourth straight defeat and fifth loss in the past six games.
Newcastle now face a huge challenge in the final six rounds with their run home not exactly an easy draw.
Stuck on 18 competition points, the Knights would need at least four but possibly five wins from those remaining six games.
Brown was furious with some of the defensive lapses in the loss to the Tigers, declaring the Knights were “mirroring the path of Canberra” last year with their inability to close out tight games.
He had put several players on notice following the second half collapse the previous week against the Sydney Roosters.