Knights not taking Bulldogs lightly ahead of Sunday's clash in Newcastle

The Knights have a diabolical record against the Bulldogs that stretches back seven years.

Since 2013 when they won all three games against the Dogs, Newcastle has won just one of their past eight matches, with four of those defeats at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Their only win during that period was last season in Brisbane during Magic Round.

Barnett says there has been no focus on what's happened in the past but the Knights recognise the threat.

"They are a gritty side who put in 100 percent every week and they don't hand the two points over easily," he said. "We are going to have to work just as hard as any other game. I know they are not getting results but they've got a lot of motivation behind them.

"I know their coach [Dean Pay] is gone and we've been through that and we know how much it means to try to rally together so they'll be playing for one another.

"But it's just another week for us and we just have to build and put our best performance together."

Reminded about complacency being a factor in the side's loss to lowly North Queensland back in round 7 a month ago, Barnett dismissed the comparison.

"That performance is a long way behind us and the team probably looks different to what rolled out that day as well," he said.

"It's not the same team that faced the Cowboys and we're just focused on the Bulldogs and showing them plenty of respect."

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Barnett pulled up fine after a strong performance against South Sydney in his first game back from a four month injury lay-off.

He believes cleaning up the errors that crept into their game late against the Bunnies that almost cost them the game is the key to an 80 minute performance against the Dogs.

"They are easy fixes. It's just us wanting to try a little harder in the small areas and if we can do that, we'll improve quickly," he said.

Barnett admitted the players were very aware of their responsibilities in front of their home fans on Sunday.

"We have just really focused so far this week on putting in a good performance for our home crowd," he said.

"On the weekend, they turned up there for us [at Bankwest Stadium] and I don't know how many there was, it sounded like 3000, but it was only a couple of hundred, so we want to put a good performance in for our home fans. I think we've got some of the best fans in the comp so that's where we are going to start."

Newly re-signed prop Jacob Saifiti also stressed the importance of being at home and not taking the Bulldogs lightly.

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