NRL: Dolphins and Newcastle Knights duo Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Kalyn Ponga ready for Perth clash

The Dolphins’ and Newcastle Knights’ respective coaches have vowed their State of Origin stars will be in full flight for Saturday’s NRL clash at HBF Park.

In the battle of sixth vs 15th, both Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf and his Newcastle counterpart Adam O’Brien backed their Queensland Origin starters Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Kalyn Ponga to back up after their mid-week heroics against NSW.

Woolf said Tabuai-Fidow, who scored two first-half tries in the Maroons’ heart-stopping 26-24 win at Optus Stadium, had been bouncing off the walls after linking up with his club teammates in Perth.

“He came into camp with a real smile on his face and that’s always a great sign for ‘Hammer’,” he said.

“I liked the way he was moving out there as well, I probably expected him to be a little bit tentative but he’s moving around really quick and he’s ready to go.

“They performed really well and made some real improvements from what they did in the first game. They all looked like a really happy group; he’s certainly come into camp that way and it’s great for us.”

Ponga started at full-back for the Maroons and O’Brien said the Port Hedland-born star had pulled up well following the grueling clash.

“Kalyn will play. He looks great. It’s an extra day from what it was from Origin one, so that helps, and then he just stayed on, didn’t have to travel.”

The Knights will bring back Bradman Best, Fletcher Sharpe and Tyson Frizell following injuries and O’Brien said his side needed to be prepared for the exciting Tabuai-Fidow and his fellow Dolphins outside backs.

“They move the ball great, they play to their strengths. With a few of their forwards out, they rely on getting the ball to their outside backs, who are quite athletic,” he said.

“We understand we have to be very good defensively because you’re going to face a lot of shift, a lot of shape, particularly in parts of the field you’re not normally used to.”

Following their thumping 58-4 win over North Queensland last week, Woolf said his team could not afford to put the cart before the horse ahead of the Newcastle match.

“We’ve just got ourselves into the top eight and we’ve had to work really hard to do that after a slow start,” he said.

“More concerning for us at the moment is the week-to-week performance and making sure we continue on the right direction.”