Although the Newcastle Knights have bagged two from two and the Gold Coast Titans are yet to post a win, five eighth Jarrod Mullen believes it’s all the more reason for the Knights to be on their game on Sunday.
The Knights’ playmaker anticipates the Titans to be doggedly determined to get their season back on track, starting with a win against Newcastle on Sunday.
“They are a side that is in need of a win,” he said following Tuesday’s training session.
“They have lost two games and will be desperate coming home.
“I suppose if the other boys come back to playing to will give them a boost too.
Yet, the 27-year-old assures the Knights are set to make the most of the momentum built in the opening rounds of the season.
“We set ourselves a goal at the start of the year and obviously we want to win as many games as we can at the start if the year because we have a lot of home games at the start,” he said.
“At the back end of the year we play seven of our nine away.
“It’s good to get off to a good start.
“We have a bit of momentum at the moment but we’re not where we want to be in terms of attack, but we are defending really well."
Despite the North Queensland Cowboys maintaining the majority of possession throughout Saturday’s round two match, the Knights defence deterred the Cowboys from stretching out the score, something they’ll look to reproduce during this weekend’s clash.
“The way we kept the Cowboys to nil in the second half was pleasing,” he said.
“If we can keep sides to under 14-16 points, we know we can score some tries.
“Everyone was tipping the Cowboys to sort of win the comp so to go up there and beat them, that was a great win.”
