Battle of Hastings: Will Knights half play against the Warriors?

So too veteran forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon, after both carried injuries into Sunday's 30-28 triumph against Canberra at McDonald Jones Stadium and were unable to complete a bruising, brutal match that went to extra time.

Hastings, who had missed Newcastle's preceding three games with a syndesmosis injury to his right ankle, was left in agony late in the first half after both his legs banged together in a tackle.

He bravely tried to play on but was replaced at half-time.

Fitzgibbon returned from two games on the sidelines with a shoulder injury but suffered a recurrence and gutsed it out for 76 minutes before succumbing. The Warrington-bound back-rower admitted after the game he was far from confident of backing up this week.

Hastings was also realistic about his prospects, saying he would not "compromise" the team by playing if he was not confident in his fitness, while backing experienced Adam Clune to step up if required.

"I always give myself a chance ... but I'm not going to play if I don't think I can do a job, or if I'm going to be a passenger," Hastings said.

"But I'm going to give myself every hope.

"The coach will decide if I'm up to it, and if I'm not, Cluney's going to do a fantastic job."

Hastings said he lost feeling in his leg and was "praying" he had only hit a nerve and not aggravated the existing damage.

"I'm not going to scan it," he said. "I'm just going to see how I feel ... but I won't compromise the team.

"If I can't go out there and do my job, there's no way I'll play. But if I can, I'll put my hand up."

Fitzgibbon had mixed emotions after Sunday's game.

While he was delighted to have won the first play-off game of his career, he was realistic about his prospects of taking on the Warriors.

"The way it's feeling at the moment, it's pretty sore," he said. "But we've got six days and I'll have some scans. You never know."

Fitzgibbon has had four bouts of surgery on the same shoulder in the past few seasons.

"I had some scans a couple of weeks ago," he said. "I thought I'd be right, but you never really know until you get out there."

Knights skipper Kalyn Ponga, who was the best player on the field despite a shoulder injury that required pre-game painkilling injections, is expected to line up against the Warriors.

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