Pressure on Pearce-less Knights as Raiders raise standards

The Raiders are just points differential outside the eight, while the Knights are a win further back.

Plus, Newcastle will again be without Mitchell Pearce - their halfback still struggling with a hamstring problem that's kept him out since round 16 - and they've lost their past two games in his absence.

Stuart said he'd heard the Knights have had some deep-and-meaningful chats.

In contrast, the Raiders have won their past three as their season continued to get back on track.

But Stuart was expecting a very physical and hungry Newcastle - while they will be without Pearce they do have Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best in their 17.

Ponga inspired a second-half comeback the last time the teams met, with the Knights coming back from 16-0 at half-time to win 24-16.

But Stuart said the Raiders were a different team now.

"When you get to a stage where you're confident in the football team you coach I prefer the opposition to worry about us," he said.

"[Mitchell is] a very experienced player. I have a lot of time for Mitchell's ability and they're a better team with Mitchell there.

"They'll be a very hungry team [Saturday] night. I've heard they've had some pretty deep and meaningful discussions through the week and they'll be a very motivated football team.

"But I just feel the pressure is on them. It's not on my team.

"I haven't talked about winning a game of football for the last month. We just talk about our individual performance which is going to create a team effort."

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With just six games remaining before the finals, Stuart wanted the Green Machine to continually raise their standards every week.

That's off the back of arguably their best defensive display this season in their win over the Parramatta Eels.

Stuart called for his players to again bring that physicality they produced last week.

"All we need is to just keep raising the standard of our play of our game," he said.

"At this time of the year you always find out about your football team in regards to their increasing intensity, improvement in your style of play because you're not far out from play-offs.

"We're in a very difficult position that we put ourselves in being tied in eighth spot with a number of teams around us.

"We're not focusing on that. We're not focusing on winning. We're focusing on improving as a football team.

"I was impressed with the last three weeks. I think we've been improving each week, given we've had injuries and players out on representative commitment.

"So overall from a squad point of view I see us improving slightly each game so that's another focus for [Saturday night]."

NRL ROUND 20

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Lang Park, 5.30pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Harley Smith-Shields, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Semi Valemei, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Hudson Young. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Matthew Timoko, 16. Iosia Soliola, 17. Joseph Tapine. Reserves: 18. Matt Frawley, 19. Ryan James, 20. Bailey Simonsson, 21. Dunamis Lui.

Knights squad: 1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Enari Tuala, 3. Kurt Mann, 4. Bradman Best, 5. Hymel Hunt, 6. Phoenix Crossland, 7. Jake Clifford, 8. Jacob Saifiti, 9. Jayden Brailey, 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Mitchell Barnett, 13. Connor Watson. Interchange: 14. Sauaso Sue, 15. David Klemmer, 16. Josh King, 17. Brodie Jones. Reserves: 18. Jirah Momoisea, 19. Simi Sasagi, 20. Tex Hoy, 21. Mitchell Pearce.