COACH Adam O'Brien is confident he will have all his big guns back on deck as the Newcastle Knights shoot for a club-record 10th consecutive victory in their first home final since 2006.
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Newcastle will host Canberra at McDonald Jones Stadium in the opening round of the play-offs, on Sunday afternoon.
And the Knights could hardly enter the post-season in better form after Saturday's 32-12 disposal of St George Illawarra at Kogarah.
Even with a vastly depleted team, Newcastle notched their ninth straight win - equalling a club record dating back to 1995 - to continue a season of remarkable milestones.
As well as the winning streak, English import Dominic Young created history with a brace of tries that took him to 23 for the season - passing the previous record of 21, shared by Timana Tahu and Akuila Uate.
Saturday's win was Newcastle's 14th for the season - plus one draw - which represents their best return from any campaign since 2002.
In the process, they have scored 626 points, their largest tally since 2003, and finished the preliminary round with 114 tries, the most by any team in the NRL.
Not forgetting that the hot streak started with a 66-0 demolition of Canterbury on July 2, the biggest-ever victory in Newcastle's history.
As delighted as he was with the performance of a team stacked with rookies and second-stringers on Saturday, O'Brien will welcome the return of a host of key men for the finals, including Kalyn Ponga, Jackson Hastings, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Kurt Mann, Tyson Frizell, Dane Gagai, Phoenix Crossland and Leo Thompson.
Ponga (shoulder) and Hastings (ankle) are the main concerns, but O'Brien declared after Saturday's win: "I'm confident on both ... looking at them when we left the other day to come down here, I was quite confident they'll be a part of it."
O'Brien said he expected to have "a healthy squad" for week one of the play-offs.
"The guys that have had a rest, they'll be stoked with the effort tonight and they'll bounce in on Monday and bring the energy to us," he said.
He wants his players to "embrace" the hype and excitement of a final on home turf, which is certain to attract a third straight sell-out crowd.
"I don't want to just lock them away and say that it's just another week," he said. "I think they deserve the right to feel the energy of the town."
NSW Origin forward Jacob Saifiti, who marked his captaincy debut with the opening try against the Dragons, said home-ground advantage would be "massive" for the Knights this week.
"When that Newcastle chant goes up - especially the last two weeks when they've been 29,000-strong - you just lift another gear," Saifiti said.
"I'm sure we'll get another packed house, and hopefully they're behind us like they were the last couple of weeks."
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