Knights get kick out of Dureau
BY ROBERT DILLON
KNIGHTS coach Rick Stone believes the return of halfback Scott Dureau for suspended Ben Rogers will strengthen Newcastle in certain areas in Sunday's do-or-die clash with Penrith at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Dureau, who has played only one NRL game since tearing his groin against Parramatta on June 7, has been recalled after Rogers received a three-game suspension on Wednesday for throwing a flurry of punches at Canberra winger Daniel Vidot on Monday night.
Statistics suggest Rogers is a more robust defender than Dureau and more likely to make a line break.
But Dureau has a superior tactical kicking game as evidenced by his four 40-20 touch-finders this season and his organisational ability as first receiver allows Jarrod Mullen more room to attack out wide.
"Dureau does bring things to the team that probably the Mullen-Rogers combination hasn't got," Stone said yesterday.
"I don't think anyone in the NRL would have a better back-up option than Dureau, at this point in time in the season.
"We're really lucky to have that particular player.
"He's been training really hard in the last couple of weeks and deserves his crack at it.
"There's no doubt he brings something to our footy team."
Dureau has played 29 NRL games in his career but only 10 this season, most recently in the round-20 loss to Manly on July 24.
Stone warned that the 23-year-old would need to muscle up to counter Penrith's wide-running giants Frank Pritchard and Trent Waterhouse, who are certain to target him.
"He knows he's got a job to do defensively, which at times has probably let him down a little bit," Stone said.
"But I'm looking forward to watching Scotty play. He's excited about his opportunity and I thought he did really well at training today."
Stone has reminded his troops about not being overawed by the occasion. Not only are Newcastle under pressure to win to reach the finals, but their annual Old Boys Day will add to the burden of expectation.
"We've got to stay relaxed and not let the enormity of the day get to us, and make sure we show enough composure to play relaxed and some nice free-flowing football," Stone said.
"As a coaching staff and as a captain from Kurt [Gidley], we've tried to stay pretty relaxed and focused on what we have to do . . . we probably don't need to get caught up in that [hype] too much."
Stone said the presence of a host of club legends would provide little help for Newcastle once Sunday's match has kicked off.
"All the boys respect what Old Boys Day is about and they respect the ex-players and what they did for the club previously," he said.
"But they know they're not going to carry us along for a win on the weekend.
"There's a lot of respect there and obviously we want to honour their legacy, but the best way to do that is by winning."
Knights officials are anticipating their biggest crowd of the season for a match that will determine whether Newcastle qualify for the play-offs for the first time since 2006.
By yesterday afternoon, almost 17,000 tickets had been sold. Knights officials said several thousand tickets were still available but encouraged fans to get in quick before the match was declared a sell-out.
Herald
