Josh King to make his debut for Newcastle Knights against the Brisbane Broncos

AS an electrical apprentice in a Hunter Valley coal mine, Josh King is no stranger to hard work and rolling up his sleeves when a job needs to get done.

Knight's new coach Nathan Brown calls the shots at training. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

AS an electrical apprentice in a Hunter Valley coal mine, Josh King is no stranger to hard work and rolling up his sleeves when a job needs to get done.

But it’s unlikely anything the rookie Newcastle prop has experienced will have prepared him for what he is likely to face in Brisbane on Saturday.

King 21, is poised to make his NRL debut in one of the toughest cauldrons in the game – Suncorp Stadium against the Broncos — with veteran Jeremy Smith almost certain to be ruled out of the match because of a knee injury.

The Knights travelled to Brisbane on Friday with a 19- man squad that included Smith and two extras in King and utility forward David Bhana.

Bhana has missed the past month with an ankle injury but got through Friday’s final training session in Newcastle and is a likely inclusion off the bench at the expense of Will Pearsall.

King is also likely to come off the bench.

His inclusion will continue coach Nathan Brown’s bold youth policy which has already seen him blood seven NRL rookies in the opening six rounds this season with King set to become the eighth.

The Knights face a massive challenge against the competition frontrunners but prop Jack Stockwell says that there is no shortage of confidence in the camp following their first win of the season against the Wests Tigers last Sunday.

“Obviously the Broncos are a good side — a top-four team — but we have just got to go up there with the attitude that we are going to win,” he said.

“They always play good up there so we are going to have to bring our A-game. Kind of what we have done over the past couple of weeks and just build on that.”

Fullback Dane Gagai and back-rower Korbin Sims are two players who will be desperate to have big games to push their Queensland Origin barrow. Brown has no doubts both are right in the selection mix.

“We’d like to think that on the back of what Gags did last season and his versatility and the sort of form he is running into, he’ll be pretty much a walk-up provided he continues to compete hard which I’m sure he will,” Brown said.

“The fact he is playing fullback for us should only help him I would have thought.

“In Korbin’s case, he’s obviously an emerging Origin player for them so he is going to be right in the mix as well so a big game up there is only going to help his cause as well.”

Originally published as Josh King to make his debut for Newcastle Knights against the Brisbane Broncos