Newcastle centre Dane Gagai is expected to return from injury against Wests Tigers on Friday night as the Knights aim to secure consecutive wins for the first time this year.
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Gagai was on Tuesday named to play in the 8pm game at McDonald Jones Stadium after missing Newcastle's most recent match against Canterbury before a bye at the weekend.
The 32-year-old has been battling a foot injury that kept him out of the 66-0 demolition of the Bulldogs but has now had more than a fortnight away from the playing field.
Winger Dominic Young, who plays outside Gagai on the right edge, is eager to have the 260-game veteran back on deck.
"Hopefully," Young said of Gagai's chances of returning.
"We've got a good combination there so it will be nice to see him back."
Enari Tuala replaced Gagai against the Bulldogs and is expected to do so again if he isn't fit to play.
Tuala could also be called upon should Bradman Best fail to back up from Wednesday's State of Origin game.
Best, 21, is making his debut for NSW but like teammate Jacob Saifiti has been named to play for the Knights 48 hours later.
The Knights are otherwise unchanged from their win over the Bulldogs, a game in which they scored 11 tries but their leading try-scorer - Young - didn't net one.
"Everyone's been saying that, how did we score 11 tries and I didn't get one?" Young said.
"I couldn't tell you to be honest. It was frustrating for me as well.
"It would be nice to get back on the score sheet, but I'd be happy with the two points."
After their monster win last start, Young said the Knights had attempted to reset their mindset for Friday's clash with the last-placed Tigers, who they only narrowly beat 14-12 in round two at Leichhardt Oval.
"We obviously want to keep that ball rolling and build on what we did last week, it was obviously a great win keeping them to zero and scoring a lot of points," he said.
"It's just about building on that and not getting too far ahead of ourselves because we know the Tigers are a good team.
"We've got to put in a big performance against them."
Placed 14th but only three points outside the top eight, Newcastle are still in contention for the finals but will need to win the majority of their remaining eight games if they are to ensure they play beyond the regular season.
A win on Friday would be the first time the Knights have enjoyed back-to-back victories since rounds one and two last season.
The Tigers have lost their past five games and are coming off a 36-12 defeat to Cronulla last week.
Coach Tim Sheens has named Tigers captain and hooker Api Koroisau to make a shock return from the broken jaw which kept him out of Origin II last month.
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