THE Newcastle Knights are confident they will be boosted by the return of two-time premiership winner Tamika Upton in Sunday's do-or-die semi-final against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium.
Upton has missed Newcastle's past two games with a calf injury, but the Queensland Origin fullback was eager to play in Sunday's 30-8 triumph against the Dragons, only to be overruled by coach Ron Griffiths and his support staff.
"She wanted to play, but we just decided against it," Griffiths said.
"We met with her on Friday and thought we're probably better off leaving it another week.
"She ticked off what she needed to on Friday ... but after we said no she came to us and said: 'I'm ready to play'.
"Risk versus reward, we just decided to err on the side of caution for another week."
Griffiths said the experience of Upton and skipper Millie Boyle, who both won back-to-back grand finals with the Brisbane Broncos in 2019 and 2020, would be crucial this week.
"What they do is they teach us how to win by their preparation," Griffiths said.
"I think that's where we'll be able to lean on their experience over the next seven days, going into semi-final football."
Boyle dismissed concerns about her own fitness, saying a leg problem that left her limping against the Dragons was "just a cork".
Boyle had no doubt the Knights, whose only loss in five preliminary rounds was in a nailbiter against defending premiers Sydney Roosters, were capable of finding another gear in the play-offs.
"It's just about everybody getting their prep right and having a good week of training," Boyle said.
"Next week is do-or-die footy. I think we've still got so much to build on and so much to improve on.
"We haven't really even played our cards yet, so I think that's really exciting."
Griffiths admitted he will face some tough selection decisions when he names his squad on Tuesday.
"That's the joys of coaching," he said.
