Upbeat Newcastle Knights wary of Turbo-less Sea Eagles…

Upbeat Newcastle Knights wary of Turbo-less Sea Eagles as they seek bounce back from Sharks loss

Newcastle halfback Adam Clune says the Knights have wasted no time dwelling on their loss to Cronulla and are ready to bounce back against a Manly side minus star fullback Tom Trbojevic.

Trbojevic, last year's Dally M Medallist, is out for at least a month after injuring his knee in Manly's 25-6 win over Canberra last week.

Clune said while his absence might be significant for Manly, it wouldn't really change how the Knights approached Thursday's game.

Toohey's News: Listen to Barry Toohey's new podcast in your Podcast app

"It probably doesn't change in terms of how we attack, their structure might change a little bit," he said.

"There might be a little bit more focus on blokes like Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, but they've got strengths all across the park.

"We've got to be wary of everyone in their team.

"I'm sure they will replace Tommy with another great player. They've got a lot of depth and strike-power."

Manly named 19-year-old Tolutau Koula at fullback, a rookie who has only played two NRL games.

But the youngster, who was promising in pre-season trials, is considered a future star.

His Tongan parents were both Olympic sprinters and Koula once ran a 100-metre time of 10.58 in a state schools carnival.

Clune has an idea of what it's like to play Manly without their regular fullback, having won his only match against the Sea Eagles on a day they were without Trbojevic while playing for the Dragons in 2020.

Clune had two tries assists in the game as the Dragons won 34-4 at Kogarah.

The halfback said after seeing how Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans played in Mudgee last weekend, the Knights would need to figure out a way to limit the effectiveness of his kicking-game.

"Cherry-Evans has been one of the greatest halfbacks and kickers in the game for a long time now," Clune said.

"It's not really a surprise when he puts on a kicking display like that.

"That's one thing we've got to be wary of."

Back-rower Tyson Frizell was named to take on Manly but is not a certainty to play after injuring his hamstring last week.

Frizell, who was running relatively freely in a separate training session on Tuesday, suffered a "very minute strain" in the Knights' 18-0 loss to Cronulla on Friday.

He has expressed a desire to play and its understood he will be given up until game day to prove his fitness.

Frizell's inclusion would be a huge boost for the Knights given the number of forwards they have sidelined.

But with regular starters David Klemmer, Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Mitch Barnett all out for extended periods, the risk of Frizell suffering a more extensive injury by playing in the game could sway the Knights to err on the side of caution.

Thursday's match at McDonald Jones Stadium will be the Knights' fourth game in 19 days.

It will also be the second of three trophies they play for in less than a month, the Malcolm Reilly Trophy.

"We won back the Allan McMahon Shield from the Tigers in round two, we want to retain this trophy then re-take the Alex McKinnon Cup when we play St George Illawarra next week," Knights general manager of football Danny Buderus said.