RECALLED five-eighth Tyson Gamble has no doubt the Newcastle Knights can win enough games to stay in finals contention while skipper Kalyn Ponga is sidelined.
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The reigning Dally M medallist will spend an estimated 12 weeks recovering from a ruptured Lisfranc ligament in his right foot, which he suffered in last week's 36-12 loss to Canterbury and has since required surgery.
Ponga's absence leaves Newcastle precariously placed heading into Sunday's clash with the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium, sitting 15th on the competition ladder after two wins from their first seven games.
But if the Knights have been widely written off by media pundits and fans, Gamble said the team still have plenty of self-belief.
"We've got a lot of talent in this team, but I don't think we've really found what works for us so far this year," Gamble said.
"But there's no reasons why we can't win games.
"We beat Melbourne a few weeks ago, and we didn't lose by much over in Auckland against the Warriors, who are are another good team.
"We've got the football in us. For whatever reason, we haven't shown that.
"But it's only round seven and there's a lot of footy to go, and we'll turn it around, I promise you."
Gamble acknowledged that the turnaround has to happen soon.
"We need a win," Gamble said. "We can't turn up with another performance like that [against the Bulldogs].
"We really need to reflect on what went wrong and what we did poorly, and work really hard to turn it around.
"It's an attitude thing for us, I think.
"We've got the players here to win games. I think we proved that last year.
"We haven't changed too much in terms of our squad, so it's about going back to the drawing board, remembering what works for us and coming up with a better performance."
Gamble was reinstated to first grade last week after two games in NSW Cup and is hoping to consolidate his spot against the Dolphins, for whom he played in the Queensland Cup during his formative years.
"Regardless of what grade I'm playing, I want to be winning games," Gamble said.
"I'm a team-first guy, and everyone wants to be winning games."
In contrast to Newcastle, the Dolphins have won four of their past five games and climbed to third on the points table, despite injuries to representative regulars Thomas Flegler, Herbie Farnworth, Felise Kaufusi and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
Their depleted line-up features two former Knights on the interchange bench: utility Kurt Donoghoe and back-rower Oryn Keeley.
