Brian Smith has faith in Knights new boy Shannon McDonnell
BY BRETT KEEBLE
9/05/2009 4:00:00 AM
HE arrived on Thursday, trained for the first time with his new teammates yesterday, and is preparing to make his Newcastle debut against Gold Coast at EnergyAustralia Stadium tomorrow.Whether Shannon McDonnell plays against the Titans will depend on the fitness of fullback Kurt Gidley, who played for Australia against New Zealand in Brisbane last night, but coach Brian Smith has no qualms about using the Tigers recruit if required.
Smith said 21-year-old McDonnell is on standby for Gidley, and Keith Lulia and Ben Rogers are the shadow players for Country Origin representatives James McManus and Jarrod Mullen after Rogers was cleared yesterday to return from a knee injury.
Even if Mullen backs up, Rogers could still replace George Ndairaon the bench, but Smith will wait until today's final training run to make that decision.
McDonnell has a perfect record at EAS, having played in the Tigers' 38-26 and 33-14 victories on Newcastle soil in the past two years, and despite often torrential rain at training yesterday he was surprised how comfortable he felt among so many unfamiliar faces.
"I like the vibe around the team and their free style of play. All the blokes have been welcoming and the staff are all good," the former junior representative teammate of Mullen, Cory Paterson and Scott Dureau said.
"I've been given an opportunity to play for the rest of the year and whatever happens after that, I'll take, but I'm really looking forward to coming up here and experiencing something different. The Knights have got good culture, good fans, and I love being here.
"I'm just preparing the best I can and play whenever I can. Obviously Kurt is cemented and solid as the number one fullback so I'll just play if he's in rep games or whenever I'm given the chance.
"With the free style the Knights play, Brian's given me a lot of good advice about where to stand and how to play my style of game so it's been good it's been surprisingly easier than what I thought."
Smith said McDonnell was unlikely to play for the Knights beyond this year because there would almost certainly be better offers from Super League or other NRL clubs, "but we know what we want from him and he knows what we're expecting of him".
"He's not here for a haircut. He's here to play if Kurt's not right, so we'll get him going as soon as we can," Smith said.
"We know his game, what style he is, and he doesn't really need to change.
"The combinations with our players will obviously improve the more he trains and plays with us, but we just want him to do the job he does naturally the thing that I've been watching him do since he was 16 or 17.
Smith said having McDonnell available would help cover Gidley's absence during the representative season.
"We missed the play-offs last year by just one win so maybe if we'd have had that support for him last year, that might have made a difference and I wasn't going to let it happen again if we could avoid it," he said.
"Having a player to come in who's a quality fullback, someone who knows and has played in the NRL at fullback and knows what the job is, as head coach I'll maybe get a bit more sleep at night over this rep season and towards the back end of the year."
The Knights led 14-0 close to half-time in their first-round meeting with the Titans at Skilled Park but wilted in the heat and lost 34-20.
"We'd certainly like to get square about that. We were disappointed that they were able to finish over the top of us in that game, but I think the weather conditions are likely to be different and, definitely, the crowd is going to be different," Smith said.
"They're playing on our patch this time so I hope our boys will bear that in mind if we do happen to get into the lead early in the game [and] we keep our foot on the pedal."
Titans pocket dynamo Preston Campbell was in doubt earlier in the week with rib cartilage damage but has trained for most of the week and is expected to play.
Bench prop Aaron Cannings (knee) and Australian Test forwards Anthony Laffranchi and Luke Bailey will be checked before the team flies to Newcastle.
It will be the Titans' first session at their new Station Reserve training complex at Robina, adjacent to their home ground.
Coach John Cartwright and back-rower Mark Minichiello will join the team in Newcastle after completing their commitments with City Origin at Orange last night.
