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Newcastle tasted finals football last season for the first time in seven years under coach Adam O'Brien. It was an admirable effort but neither O'Brien nor his players will be satisfied with that. No-one wants to go through an entire season only to be punted in the first week, in this case by South Sydney.
The recruitment of hard-running second-rower Tyson Frizell will certainly boost the Knights' hopes of making the top four this year. And having four of their opening five games at home against teams that missed the finals last year will also help.
Again the man under most pressure will be halfback Mitchell Pearce, who has endured an off-season from hell. Pearce recently agreed to a cut-price, one-year deal to stay at the Knights and he is literally playing for his future. He also had his December wedding cancelled after a "sexting" scandal with a Knights employee that led to him being stripped of the club captaincy.
Pearce needs to repay the faith from the Knights powerbrokers and produce big time this year. The major problem he faces is that his fellow spine members Kalyn Ponga and Blake Green will be missing through injury in the early rounds of the season.
More than 60% of Newcastle's matches this season are not on free-to-air television. Of their 24 fixtures in the premiership, 15 are exclusive to Fox League and 9 are on Channel 9.
That means Knights fans will be well advised to explore Kayo Sports, Foxtel or Foxtel Now to ensure they don't miss a minute of the action in 2020. Out of those three, Kayo is the cheapest by some margin at $25 a month and also has an impressive array of features. Kayo also has a special behind-the-scenes series on the Newcastle Knights called Be The Player.
Take a look at our Kayo vs Foxtel guide to see how they compare. Kayo has a 14-day free trial for you to give it all a test run. Overall it has access to more than 50 sports.
See our complete guide on how to stream the 2021 NRL season for a full breakdown of providers.
Are you based overseas or planning a trip during the NRL season? You don't have to miss any of the Knights' action thanks to Watch NRL. We have a full guide on how to stream the 2021 NRL season from overseas.
You can see Newcastle's entire schedule for the 2021 NRL season here.
Established in 1987, the Knights entered the competition the following year. They truly hit their stride in the late 1990s behind the superb play of halfback and Immortal Andrew Johns. Victory over Manly in one of the great grand finals in 1997 was followed by another premiership in 2001.
Yet since the last of their 7 consecutive finals series in 2003, they have reached the play-offs just 5 times and were bundled out last year in the first week. Knights fans are passionate about their team, but will expect more during O'Brien's second year in charge and with a side capable of causing some heavy damage.
Image source: NRL website
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