League: Knights not just a one-man show

The Warriors need to keep things simple if they are to win in Newcastle.

All focus is on Andrew Johns and what the world's best player will bring to the game.

But the Warriors cannot afford to concentrate on Johns because the Knights have other strike players who will open them up if they do.

All their talk this week has been on putting the Knights under pressure because other sides have so far been unable to do that.

Coach Ivan Cleary has analysed the video of the Knights demolishing the Eels 25-6 (Johns five points), the Raiders 70-32 (Johns 30 points) and the Bulldogs 46-22 (Johns 18 points).

"It's good viewing if you're a rugby league fan. There are some pretty good tries," he said, also noting that the other sides "hadn't brought their best game".

The Knights have options with Kangaroos hooker Danny Buderus and the unbelievable Johns. They find runners that break holes and cut angles.

Their blitzkrieg scoring of the type that demoralised and demolished the Raiders at Canberra comes on the back of great kick-returns from Milton Thaiday, dummy-half running from Buderus as well as backs George Carmont and Brian Carney, who has been a workhorse for them. The long kicking and 40/20s of Johns have also helped give them an edge.

Then there is the Knights' fanatical home crowd.

The ground capacity at Energy Australia Stadium is listed as 25,000 but there were 26,198 for their season-opener against the Eels and 25,504 at last weekend's game against the Bulldogs.

It is the one ground in Australia where you will be able to count the Warriors' supporters on the fingers of one hand.

They did win there last year, Francis Meli scoring in the last 40 seconds to break a 26-all deadlock for 30-26. Johns had gone off mid-second half after breaking his jaw on Jerome Ropati's shoulder.

The Warriors have only one other victory at Newcastle, in 2002, their grandfinal year when they won 34-12 against a Knights side without Johns and Buderus who were away on State of Origin duty.

Newcastle was always a memorable place to play, Cleary said.

"You can take that [the crowd factor] as an intimidation or as a spur," he said.

"We have to play well, we have to improve on what we've done, control the ball and defend well.

"We won there last year so hopefully the guys will draw on that."

He wanted individuals to back up good performances from last weekend against the Tigers and the team as a whole to improve decision-making and execution and to tighten ball control.

"It's going to be important to finish off our opportunities."

The Knights did have weaknesses but the Warriors would have to dig deep to find them, he said.

They have the big plus as always of the NRL's best ground-maker in Steve Price but Ruben Wiki was close behind. Their little men George Gatis, Nathan Fien and Brent Webb played with confidence last weekend and need to bring that again, as does strike weapon Clinton Toopi. If the rest are simply workmanlike, the Warriors will be in a position to challenge at the end of the 80 minutes.

Mistakes and penalties will bring a long day on the end of Johns' long kicks, much defending and the eventual cracking.

The Knights have won 12 of the 16 encounters between the teams since 1995.