NEWCASTLE coach Rick Stone claims the performances of Ben Rogers and rookie Beau Henry over the next fortnight will determine whether he needs to start the NRL season with skipper Kurt Gidley in the halves.
Rogers and Henry, who arrives after two seasons playing in the Toyota Cup with St George Illawarra, will have two trial matches to battle it out for the right to wear No. 6 jumper alongside halfback Jarrod Mullen when the Knights open their premiership campaign against Penrith on March 13.
Should they fail to impress, Gidley looms as an option in the halves, despite Stone admitting his preference is for the NSW State of Origin utility to wear the No. 1 jumper.
But Gidley, who captained the Blues during the 2010 series, faces stiff competition to earn a starting berth this year with Parramatta's Jarryd Hayne and exciting Canberra Raiders star Josh Dugan pressing for the NSW fullback role.
If shifted to the halves, Gidley would then find himself in a battle with the likes of Knights teammate Mullen and Sydney Roosters duo Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce for the five-eighth and halfback spots.
Stone will use tonight's trial match against Penrith in Port Macquarie and next week's game against Cronulla at Muswellbrook to get a clearer picture of his team's key roles.
"A lot will depend on Ben Rogers and Beau Henry and blokes like Shannon McDonnell and Wes Naiqama and whoever else can play fullback," Stone said yesterday.
"I think Beau Henry and Ben Rogers, in the next couple of weeks, have got a couple of big games in front of them, there's no doubt about that, to push their barrow and stake their claims to be there the first week when we play Penrith."
Which makes tonight's trial at Port Macquarie all the more important, given it is against their round-one opponents.
Gidley will sit out the match as Stone gives all his other aspirants a chance to perform, with McDonnell's performance at fullback also influencing the coach's thoughts.
Rogers will be looking to bounce back from a 2010 season blighted by injury and indifferent form, but by far the most intriguing piece of the puzzle is Henry, who at one stage was being groomed by master coach Wayne Bennett to take over the halfback jumper at St George Illawarra.
Despite being named the 2009 Toyota Cup player of the year, Henry never got a look-in at the Dragons, mainly due to the brilliant form and injury-free run of first-choice halves Ben Hornby and Jamie Soward.
There were also lingering questions over Henry's temperament, but Stone said the 21-year-old had done everything asked of him since arriving at Newcastle.
"He's young and most young players have still got a bit to learn abou
t the whole professional full-time thing," the Newcastle mentor said.
"He's coming back from a shoulder reconstruction and I give him the credit that he's worked particularly hard to get himself in a position where he played last weekend in that trial against Fiji which was under the six-month mark.
"He's done a lot of extras to make that happen and at least he's going to give himself a genuine chance now by playing three games before the competition starts."
Stone said players such as Gidley, Akuila Uate and Chris Houston would return to play in the last trial against Cronulla next Saturday.
The Panthers will return home to Centrebet Stadium next Saturday when they take on local rivals Parramatta in their final trial match of 2011.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...iver-for-knights/story-e6frexnr-1226008488658
