Knights coach Nathan Brown has named five rookies in round one

NEWCASTLE coach Nathan Brown’s gamble in throwing five rookies into the Knights opening round clash against Gold Coast on Sunday could prove to be a masterstroke.

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 10: Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown during a Newcastle Knights NRL pre-season training session at Hunter Stadium on February 10, 2016 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

NEWCASTLE coach Nathan Brown’s gamble in throwing five rookies into the Knights opening round clash against Gold Coast on Sunday could prove to be a masterstroke in the long run if his own coaching history is anything to go by.

Brown has ditched the conservative approach and thrown caution to the wind in his first game back as a coach in the NRL after an eight year absence by naming fullback Jaelen Feeney, centre Pat Mata’utia and forwards Daniel and Jacob Saifiti and David Bhana to make their NRL debuts against the Titans.

But blooding youngsters is nothing new for Brown.

In his first season as an NRL coach with the Dragons in 2003, Brown used eight rookies in the opening three rounds including first round debutants Brett Firman and Chris Nero.

While the Dragons missed the top eight that season, they finished fifth the following year before playing in two consecutive preliminary finals.

Brown insists his selections this time around are not solely focused on the future and claims every player deserves his place on merit.

“From day one, we made it quite clear the team would be picked on form,” he said.

“We were not too worried about the age of people. We also made it quite clear we had a lot of older people leave and the people we replaced them with were rookies.

Jacob Saifiti will make his first grade debut for the Knights against the Titans. Picture by Peter Lorimer

“So it’s no good not having confidence in them. They have all trained well, all the guys we have put in had some really good parts to their game against Canberra (in the trial) but they also had parts where they’d like to get better.

“But the only way you get better is by playing and training and playing and training.”

Brown says his squad won’t be lacking in enthusiasm and desire.

“They are going to have some errors but one of those errors can’t be commitment,” he said.

“They’ll want to compete hard. Along the way, they will have some little ups and downs — that’s what young people do. We’ll deal with that when it happens but as a whole, we have a lot of confidence in the guys.

“No-one should expect them to be perfect but as long as they compete hard and get their roles right, I’m sure they will give the opposition some stuff to think about.”

Originally published as Knights coach Nathan Brown has named five rookies in round one