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Having gone through a coaching upheaval himself, Melbourne hooker Ryan Hinchcliffe believes Newcastle are a bigger threat than ever in Monday night’s NRL clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
Hinchcliffe was at Canberra last year when coach Neil Henry announced mid-season he would quit the side to return to Townsville in 2009, but remained at the club all year with head coach in waiting David Furner as his assistant.
It had been the same scenario the Knights had lived through in the past three weeks with Brian Smith off to the Sydney Roosters and understudy Rick Stone his successor.
But after three consecutive losses the Knights bit the bullet on Saturday, sacking Smith and installing Stone for the rest of 2009 until 2011.
It is that coaching change which Hinchcliffe fears will jolt the Knights out of their slump and into action.
The Storm hooker believes the Newcastle players will be galvanised by the coaching drama and with Smith now gone they’ll no longer feel the pressure that his ongoing presence carried.
“You don’t feel resentment but it definitely makes the group come closer because you really want to do it for each other,” said Hinchcliffe.
“I know having gone through that last year it made us as a group come together and speak about it and how we’re not going to let these outside distractions affect us and in fact it made us stronger.
“I’d imagine the Newcastle side have spoken and got together and said probably the exact same thing.
“I’m sure they feel probably a little bit of pressure off their backs I suppose you could say and now they can just get on with it.
“We know they’ll come out fired up and we have to be on our game.”
The Storm are also wary of Newcastle after the Knights pushed them all the way in Melbourne’s 18-14 win earlier this year.
“Their forwards were just up in our faces and defensively they were all over us and didn’t give us an inch,” recalled Hinchcliffe.
“In attack they probably move the ball more than any side in the competition.
“To be honest we were pretty lucky to get away with it.
“The last three weeks they haven’t been going as well as they have previously but they’re a very dangerous side and we know we have to be at our best to beat them.”
Distractions have been a big problem for both sides ahead of this clash, with Storm star Greg Inglis stood down indefinitely after being charged for assaulting his girlfriend Sally Robinson last weekend.
But Hinchcliffe says the Inglis saga is no excuse for his side on Monday.
“We’re not going to let any distractions through the week affect us,” he said.
“We’ve had a bit of a rough week ourselves but we’re doing alright. We’ve trained well and we’re just looking forward to tomorrow night.”
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