Lamb came into the 17 as Knights coach Nathan Brown made the call to leave hooker Danny Levi out of the team.

“It was a tough call on leaving Danny (Levi) out of the side,” Brown said..

“He was disappointed but he has handled it well... it’s not to do with form because in both the games we played Slade (Griffin) and Danny working together as a good combination, but with Sione (Mata’utia) back in the centres and Joe Wardle getting homesick, we can't have a lot of movement in our team.

“Connor (Watson) is our best moveable piece so with Lamby (Brock Lamb) getting a spot on the bench, it allows Connor to move.

“If Lamby has to move, Connor is obviously as good a half as he is hooker so it was just to do with the balance of the team.”

Brown admitted with the changing rules of the games, they had to account for that.

“Back in the day you didn’t really have to worry about it too much but with concussion rules today, players have got to come off the field,” he said.

“It’s not uncommon to be a weekly occurrence where we lose an outside back or a half because of the rules in the game today so if we can cover it, we had to cover it.

“Brock showed at the back end of last year that he’s ready to play some first grade football as well as Danny too, it’s just a tough call but he’s kept his composure.”

Brown said there was plenty of excitement among the playing group and fans to kick off the 2018 season against Manly at McDonald Jones Stadium.

“People in town, the players, they’re all excited and obviously we’ve got more expectation on the team so it’s an exciting time,” Brown said.

“We’ve certainly got enough experienced players to handle it, our combinations will still take work, but under pressure how that comes up only time will tell.

“The guys are buying into where we want to go so at least we have the experience and the cool heads there.”

Nine players are set to make their club debuts with the Knights, while for the first time since 2015 there will be no players making their NRL debuts.

Herman Ese’ese, Slade Griffin, Aidan Guerra and Jacob Lillyman  are all set to start in the forward pack, while Tautau Moga, Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga  and Connor Watson  have been named in the backs. Chris Heighington is set to start from the bench.

1. Kalyn Ponga, 2. Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 3. Sione Mata’utia, 4. Tautau Moga, 5. Nathan Ross, 6. Connor Watson, 7. Mitchell Pearce (c), 8. Herman Ese’ese, 9. Slade Griffin,10. Jacob Lillyman, 11. Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12. Aidan Guerra, 13. Mitch Barnett, 14. Brock Lamb, 15. Chris Heighington, 16. Jamie Buhrer (c), 17. Daniel Saifit