The 25-year-old has been in outstanding form and the blockbuster against the Warriors is sure to bring out the best in him.
Ponga said Johnson has been one of the best players during the season as well as an important player for the Warriors, but the Knights must not underestimate the hosts if he is ruled out.“I think coming into this game, he has been one of the best players on the field .“We can’t underestimate the rest of them as well.”
Gamble refused to be drawn on speculation that Johnson will miss the semi-final and said the Knights have been preparing as if he would take the field.“But if he is not playing, then it’s a good thing for us.Gamble said the Knights must improve following last week’s narrow win against Canberra.“We were a bit off our game entirely last week, so we need to focus back on what we do well,” Gamble said.Ponga agreed and said the Knights “struggled” against the Raiders.
“As a collective, we struggled. I don’t think we ended sets the way we should have and that put our forwards under pressure,” Ponga said.Newcastle forward Daniel Saifiti said the pressure of a home final affected the performance of the Knights last week. “I think it probably affected us a little bit last week — the build-up of the week, first finals series, being at home,” Saifiti explained.“I don’t think we would have played any worse that we did in that first half, and we still won, so it was a good lesson for us.”
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