Mitchell Pearce declares gritty Knights are here to stay

Newcastle have players who can wow crowds with fancy footwork, but their grinding style in round one is what it’s all about, according to skipper Mitchell Pearce.

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Newcastle have some of the flashier players in the NRL, but the tough and gritty performance by the Knights last week is something fans should get used to.

Halfback and captain Mitchell Pearce said himself and halves partner Kalyn Ponga had pushed too hard during trials. Their pared back and patient performance last Friday went perfectly to plan.

“I think we overplayed a bit through the trials, me and Kalyn,” Pearce said.

Mitchell Pearce was impressed by his side’s intensity. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

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“We wanted to simplify our game going into round one and the game plan we set out through the coaches was pretty much how we played.

“We would have liked to maybe get some more reward early on for our field position with a couple of tries, but we had some nice attacking pieces that didn’t lead to tries, a couple disallowed ones there.

“That falls back on us and me and Kalyn will work on improving that part of our game.

“We couldn’t have asked any more of our forwards, they were brilliant and we need that intensity every week.”

Pearce says his combination with Kalyn Ponga will continue to improve. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

Newcastle ran for nearly 300 more metres than Cronulla in their round one 14-8 win and it was largely off the back of the efforts of their big men, especially David Klemmer who contributed 198 metres alone.

It gave the home team a wealth of possession and territory.

But rather than go into overdrive in pursuit of points, the new Knights will take their time and keep the pressure on their opposition.

“It’s the style of team we want to be. We worked hard at changing our identity and we laid our first brick with the way we want to play,” Pearce said.

“There’s a lot of growth in this obviously, there’ll need to be.

Recruit Tim Glasby starred in his club debut. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

“To play that arm wrestle type footy, to play tough and play well is what we’ve been working at. It’s nice to see that in round one.”

The pack will be without the services of Daniel Saifiti when they take on Penrith at home this Saturday.

The young prop forward went down early in last week’s game after copping a lower leg knock in a tackle.

He has a low grade medial ligament strain as well as a foot strain and will be out for four weeks max, though the club hopes he will be back sooner.

Daniel Saifiti was injured in the win over the Sharks. (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

Lock Tim Glasby said it was tough to see Saifiti sidelined after a strong pre-season, but the club now had the depth to cover his stint out.

“It’s really disappointing, he’s had a great pre-season, he was looking really good and had a couple of really good trial games as well; he was probably one of our better forwards for the trials I thought,” Glasby said.

“To see him go down like that was pretty disappointing and hopefully … he can get back as soon as possible and I’m sure he’ll work hard to get back as quick as he can.

“We’ve got Herman (Ese’ese) there and some other really good young forwards coming through.”

Originally published as Mitchell Pearce declares gritty Knights are here to stay