Jerseys
Predicted Line Up
1. Connor Watson, 2. Edrick Lee, 3. Jesse Ramien, 4. Hymel Hunt, 5. Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 6. Kalyn Ponga, 7. Mitchell Pearce, 8. James Gavet, 9. Danny Levi, 10. David Klemmer, 11. Sione Mata’utia, 12. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 13. Tim Glasby. Interchange: 14. Kurt Mann, 15. Herman Ese’ese 16. Daniel Saifiti, 17. Aidan Guerra
Key Player
Mitchell Pearce – The Knights have one of the youngest and most exciting teams in the competition. To make the top eight, they will need Pearce to use his experience to guide them to victory in tight matches.
One to Watch
Connor Watson – Watson will play fullback for the Knights this season, and with his dangerous running game, expect him to break the line regularly.
Rising Star
Jesse Ramien – Ramien is a tackling busting beast and a strong runner of the ball. Expect him to be playing Origin with a few years.
Predicted Top Try Scorer
Edrick Lee (16)
Goal Kickers
1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Mason Lino.
SuperCoach
The Guns
Kalyn Ponga ($614,300 | FLB/5/8) – Ponga is a freak. Last season, he averaged 20 evasive PPG and 18 creative PPG, helping him reach a season average of 66 (this jumps to 69 if you don’t include his injury affected 5 in round 16). With the full goal kicking duties this season, expect Ponga to have another stellar season, even if he is wearing the #6 jersey. He may take a little bit of time to adjust to his new position, but don't be too put off by All-Stars performance.
Connor Watson ($537,100 | 5/8/FLB) – Connor Watson was one of the cheapies of the year last season, but he belted out keeper scores. If you take out his two injury affected matches, Watson averaged 64.7 PPG, making him the highest averaging 5/8 in SuperCoach last season. Despite moving back to fullback this season, don’t expect his role to change much in attack.
The PODs
Jesse Ramien ($492,800 | CTW) – Ramien was a bit hot and cold last season, but when he was on, he couldn’t be contained, averaging 71 PPG from rounds 11-16. He has a strong base and breaks heaps of tackles, so should be able to rack up big hauls if he can cross for a few tries.
David Klemmer ($538,500 | 2RF/FRF) – Klemmer’s PPM has been over 1.0 in four out of the last five seasons, so if he can averaged 60 minutes a game, he can regularly bang out scores between 60-70.
The Cheapies
Kurt Mann ($258,900 | HOK/CTW) – The mail out of Newcastle is that Levi will be the starting hooker to start the season. However, if Mann is named at #9 come round one, he definitely has the potential to make some good money.
The Traps
Lachlan Fitzgibbon ($576,100 | 2RF) – We said the same thing at the beginning of last season and were wrong, but surely Fitzgibbon can’t keep scoring so many tries! Over the first 20 rounds last season, he scored on average one try every two games. When he didn’t register an attacking statistic (try/try assist) last season though, he only averaged 47 PPG.
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