O'Brien on Cloud 9 and 1 as Ponga, Brayley combo builds

Knights coach Adam O'Brien contemplated resting Kalyn Ponga and Connor Watson from the Roosters trial after they played big minutes in the All Stars a week earlier.

But that thinking only lasted a few minutes, even though the Roosters decided to rest their starts after the World Club Challenge final against St Helens last weekend.

"I did think about it but that's why I only gave KP the 40 minutes… but at the same time I knew that Kalyn and Connor hadn't played with Jayden (Brailey)," he said.

"So it was important they got time with Jayden and we got that.

"And he played 73 minutes the other night (Maori team) when the original plan was around 50 minutes for him but there was an injury to Dallin (Watene-Zelezniak)."

O'Brien said he appreciated the fact Trent Robinson gave him a heads-up that he was going to name a very inexperienced side on deck for the Central Coast Stadium game.
He also praised Brailey for calming the Knights through the middle over the opening 20 minutes, when the young Roosters forwards had a real crack at the Newcastle pack boasting rep players of the calibre of David Klemmer and Daniel Saifiti.

The Knights held their mettle and once some fatigue set in and poor reads in defence, they opened up and piled on 10 tries  in the 58-0 win.

Despite the lopsided scoreline, O'Brien said it still provided his players with necessary time in match conditions.

"You always get connections; play some footy together; get combinations – that's important," he said.

"The boys get to hit someone other than each other. They are probably sick of training and just want to get out there and play.

"I was pretty proud of our guys and their ruthless nature. Sometimes when a scoreline blows out and you're playing in a trial, you can give in to temptation but I don't think we did that.

"Hence we kept them to zero. If we went away from things and let scoreboards dictate our mindset that would have been a worrying thing.

"We also showed some resilience in defence and we had to after last week."

The fact Tex Hoy, who has played the bulk of his career so far at fullback, shone at five-eighth gives O'Brien another option for those two positions even though Mitchell Pearce and Kurt Mann will be his starting halves for round one.

"The bulk of pre-season has been Kurt (at No.6) with Phoenix (Crossland) out injured and Mason was a late starter," he said.

"I guess the one who has put himself in the frame is probably Tex after a good Nines showing too.

"I'm not saying he would have overtaken Kurt, who is an experienced player, but I would have given him more time at No.6 in the pre-season.

"That's not saying that we can't start that now. I'm not putting him right up there yet as he's got a lot of work to do defensively and he understands that too."