Young Knights giant Korbin Sims could be set for his NRL debut against the Cowboys tonight. Picture: Gary Graham Source: The Daily Telegraph
IT WILL be a case of "Sims like old times" at Hunter Stadium tonight.
Newcastle giant Korbin Sims, the youngest brother of Cowboys Ashton and Tariq Sims, is set to make his NRL debut when the Knights battle North Queensland.
While the Knights yesterday did not confirm whether the 190cm, 112kg forward would be named, they did say they had a space on their bench after a series of injuries and team adjustments at their final training session.
Korbin will go head-to-head with eldest brother Ashton, but Tariq will not play after performing strongly in a 38-12 win for Mackay over the Central Capras in the Queensland Cup on Saturday night.
Centre Timana Tahu was ruled out and replaced by Alex McKinnon for Newcastle, while former representative hooker Danny Buderus was named to play his first game of the season at the expense of Matt Hilder.
Cowboys coach Neil Henry said although Buderus' addition had come as a surprise, it would not disrupt their preparation.
"It will add experience and leadership to their team, he's a very good defensive player, with great service ... it'll just be another person to be wary of," he said.
Henry yesterday predicted the Knights would make an explosive opening tonight, fired by their humiliating 32-0 round 2 loss to Manly, and said the Cowboys weathering an early onslaught would be crucial.
"We have been slow out of the blocks ... in the first two rounds of the year, so we might tinker with our warm-up a little bit and the guys really need to be focused on getting into the game early," he said.
North Queensland travelled with an extended 18-man squad yesterday, although extra Blake Leary is not expected to be used.
Halfback Michael Morgan successfully got through three days of contact training, including taking on man mountain Jason Taumalolo one-on-one, and will make his return from a broken jaw sustained in the pre-season.
Henry expected the 21-year-old's partnership with star five-eighth and co-captain Johnathan Thurston to pick up where it left off last season.
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