Training first serve a bit of hit and giggle
BY BRETT KEEBLE
THE Knights eased into pre-season training yesterday in the unfamiliar surrounds of the sun-soaked District Park Tennis Courts a few hundred metres from their EnergyAustralia Stadium home base.
Recruits Isaac De Gois (Sharks), Ben Rogers (Dragons), George Ndaira (Rabbitohs) and Jimmy Fawcett (Bulldogs) paired up with new teammates and were warmly welcomed.
Second-year second-rower Cameron Ciraldo, who was in the same situation 12 months ago after arriving from Cronulla, gave his Mad Monday outfit another airing and looked every bit the 1970s superstar in white tennis shorts, matching long socks and red towelling headband.
Wrecking-ball centre Junior Sau had grown his hair, heavyweight front-rower Danny Wicks had shed a few kilograms and lightweight halfback Luke Walsh had gained some.
Cory Paterson, who spent the past two weeks in the USA visiting several NFL clubs to assess his ability as a punt kicker, unleashed a monster serve, and partner Scott Dureau showed some nice touches at the net.
Walsh and seasoned second-rower Steve Simpson struck up a solid doubles combination, taking on all comers including assistant coaches Rick "Rafa" Stone and Trent "Roger" Robinson.
The traditional summer conditioning program will begin under high-performance manager Lee Clark at their Balance training facility today.
Chris Houston, who like Ciraldo is starting his second crusade with the Knights, said the players enjoyed yesterday's change of pace.
"I think everyone's probably a bit too excited on the first day to get anything decent done with the footy in your hands, because everyone's still laughing and telling stories about the break," Houston said.
"But this is good, a bit of fun in the sun, and tomorrow we'll get the boots on and start doing some work with Clarky."
Knights operations manager Warren Smiles said players met before tennis yesterday morning to have the training program explained to them and to be allocated their groups.
"We've tried to put some of the younger blokes into groups with the older blokes. The first three weeks will be reasonably light, but then it will become fairly heavy in the lead-up to Christmas," Smiles said.
Australian utility Kurt Gidley returned to Newcastle yesterday after a knee injury cut short his World Cup campaign, and he will undergo arthroscopic surgery in Sydney on Friday.
Gidley will have torn cartilage trimmed and removed, and provided the procedure reveals no other damage, he is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.
Winger James McManus sat out yesterday's session after undergoing groin surgery almost five weeks ago but hopes to resume light running by the end of the week.
Utility Matt Hilder, who had a shoulder reconstruction a fortnight ago, will be absent for about six weeks and outside back Luke MacDougall is recovering from a torn triceps.
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