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JANUARY 1 2020 - 5:00AM
NRL | Knights boss Phil Gardner declares the club's six-year finals drought will end in September
BARRY TOOHEY
Local Sport
Newcastle Knights CEO Phil Gardner has boldly declared the club will finally end a six year drought next September and play NRL finals footy for the first time since 2013.
Gardner claims he has seen enough in the eight weeks since new coach Adam O'Brien came on board to confidently predict the start of a new decade will bring with it long-awaited success for the Knights.
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"This time last year, my only prediction was that I was confident we'd be better than the previous year," Gardner told the Newcastle Herald.
"But right now, I couldn't be more confident about where we are and where we are going to be. We'll certainly be playing football in September. I'm supremely confident of that.
"I think the town can be rightfully very excited about next season, I really do."
Despite Gardner's confidence, it is going to take a big turnaround in fortunes if the club is to finally break their finals' drought after they lost eight of their last 10 games in a dismal end to last season to finish 12th, 20 points behind minor premiers Melbourne.

Knights boss Phil Gardner
The only new additions to the roster since then are former Sharks hooker Jayden Brailey and inexperienced young outside backs Gehamat Shibasaki and Enari Tuala. Sportsbet currently has the Knights finishing 11th in early premiership markets.
But Gardner says the influence of O'Brien and the impact he and his coaching staff have had on the playing group since the start of pre-season training back in early November has been immense.
"Adam has been outstanding - I can't speak more highly of him," Gardner said.
"Across the board, the players have really lifted to his style of management.
"It's a completely different club to what it has been - you wouldn't recognise it.
"So much has changed. Adam's brought a whole new level of understanding of what's required from the playing group to be a genuine contender. His profiling of the players - they know each other and what motivates each other far more."
Gardner believes O'Brien's hard-nosed approach to fitness and his knowledge of the Melbourne and Roosters' systems has brought with it a level of intensity at training rarely seen in Newcastle.
"I spoke to Lachie Fitzgibbon when we were up in Tamworth before Christmas and he said to me 'you think you train hard until you actually do train hard'," Gardner said.
"I'm not sure anyone in the club really got it before now, even under someone like [Wayne] Bennett when he was coach. He's not a renowned hard trainer.
"There's been no real awareness of how hard clubs like Melbourne or the Roosters train and what was required to get to the top which is what we wanted. It was the main reason we went for Adam. We wanted someone who understood that and the players now realise it and get it. No stone is being left unturned and it's been a really positive start to the pre-season. Provided our key players get a decent run with injury, there will be no excuses.
"For me, last season was all about can we be better than the year before. But this year, we've got the young guys with an extra pre-season behind them, we've got our key players in good spots going forward, we are really healthy as far as having almost all our players fit for a full pre-season and there's been the impact Adam and his coaching team have had.
"We've got two State of Origin frontrowers [Davd Klemmer and Daniel Saifiti], Jayden Brailey is a great kid who is going to make a big difference to our side, KP [Kalyn Ponga] is another year in, Mitchell [Pearce] is at the peak of his powers, Bradman Best is going to have a big year and this young kid [Gehamat] Shibasaki in the centres is a real talent.
"There are very few areas we look poor in and we've got competition for spots right across the board now.
"There are just so many positive things happening at the club."
