Refreshed Newcastle Knights wary of the Chris Sandow led Parramatta Eels

THERE is no Jarryd Hayne but the rejuvenated Newcastle Knights still fear a Chris Sandow-led ambush at Parramatta Stadium tonight.

Danny Buderus

THERE is no Jarryd Hayne but the rejuvenated Newcastle Knights still fear a Chris Sandow-led ambush at Parramatta Stadium tonight.

Buoyed by a stunning win over Wests Tigers on Monday night that snapped a dismal five-game losing streak, the Knights are finally taking some confidence into a game they must win to maintain any sort of momentum.

With Hayne on Origin duty, they will never get a better chance to beat the Eels on their home ground.

But Knights skipper Danny Buderus says his side aren't in a position to be taking anyone lightly and has pinpointed halfback Sandow and Hayne's fullback replacement Luke Burt as key figures in their game plan.

"Sandow's unpredictable and would have taken a lot of confidence out of last weekend's golden point field goal win over Penrith," Buderus said.

"He's an obvious threat and we've got that much respect for Luke Burt.

"But at the end of the day, it's about us and building on the confidence we got out of the win against the Tigers.

"We've had a short week and haven't done too much. Just tried to freshen up and get ready to go again."

While the Eels will miss Hayne, the Knights will also be without their fullback Darius Boyd, who was the best player on the park against the Tigers.

Coach Wayne Bennett has shown faith in replacement Peter Mata'utia to do a job at the back despite a shaky performance the last time he filled in for the Queensland Origin winger.

Knights winger James McManus believes a relaxed atmosphere at training is behind the team's form turnaround.

"There's been plenty of enthusiasm at training,"he said.

"Everyone's having a lot more fun and we didn't have to go through the torturous video session at the start of the week after a loss so the win certainly helped the morale a bit. It's been a good week so hopefully, it leads to something special."