St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown isn't expecting a repeat of the strongarm tactics employed by Newcastle last season when the two NRL sides meet at WIN Stadium on Saturday night.

Brown was highly critical of the punishment dished out by Knights duo Craig Smith and Josh Perry on inexperienced Dragons props Ashton Sims, Justin Poore and Michael Henderson in the round 11 clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium last year, with Perry later suspended for five matches for a high hit on Henderson.

The Dragons coach claimed Smith and Perry had tried to bully his young pups, with Jason Ryles and Luke Bailey absent on Origin duty.

"I think they overstepped the mark and the referee should have taken a much harder stance on it and then the game wouldn't have got out of control," Brown said after the game.

"If Jason Ryles had of been on the field I doubt they would have had the courage to do it."

But with Ryles and Bailey again absent, this time due to injury, Brown said he didn't expect his new front row to cop a similar battering.

"I think that they (the Knights) will definitely try and make their presence felt, but I think they'd respect (our) guys for not only what they did last year but probably what they did against the Broncos last week," Brown said.

"It'll be reasonably physical, but I don't think anyone's going out there to deliberately attack the head of people.

"They'll definitely challenge us, any forward pack would want to challenge another forward pack."

The Knights received a major boost with skipper Andrew Johns cleared to play after he came through Friday's training session untroubled by his neck problem, while backrower Clint Newton, who broke two bones in his back in the round one win over Parramatta, could also make an unexpected return.

"He got through today pretty well and we'll just see how he pulls up in the morning and go from there," Knights coach Michael Hagan said of Newton's prospects.

If fit, Newton will likely come onto the bench, with one of Adam Woolnough, Daniel Tolar, Riley Brown or Todd Lowrie to be cut from the squad.

The Dragons have persisted with the experimental Trent Barrett-Mark Gasnier halves pairing for the match against the Knights.

The combination worked to good effect against Brisbane last week, with Barrett looking forward to the challenge of going head-to-head with Johns.

"I need to play well for our team to go well, and so does he," Barrett said.

"It's always good to play against the best players, and there's none better than him."

The Dragons will be out to continue their recent dominance of the Knights on Saturday night, having won the last four clashes between the two sides.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP