The injury-ravaged Bulldogs are set to lose experienced winger Matt Utai for up to two months, but could regain the services of superstar forward Sonny Bill Williams for their next NRL game following next weekend's bye.

The orange-booted Utai scored a first-half try in Saturday night's 22-12 home loss to Newcastle at ANZ Stadium before injuring the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

"I think he's ruptured his PCL," Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes said.

"(He will be out for) a couple of months probably."

The loss left the Bulldogs languishing in 14th position, six points outside the top eight.

Folkes, who wasn't able to extract any positives from the game, was hopeful he might regain some of his currently injured stars against the Raiders for round 15.

"We might get a couple back, Sonny maybe, and Jarrad Hickey maybe," Folkes said.

His list of unavailable personnel also currently includes Kane Cleal (hip), Andrew Emelio (knee), Luke Patten (back), Willie Tonga (shoulder) and Chris Armit (knee).

It was the Bulldogs' fifth loss from their last six games, albeit a less demoralising defeat than their 46-0 whitewashing by Melbourne in their previous game.

The Knights snapped a three-game losing streak and returned home still within touching distance of the top eight, following their second away win in five games.

It was a memorable night for debutante Junior Sau, who scored two of the Knights four tries.

Newcastle have an opportunity to build on the momentum of on Satuday night away to the lowly Cowboys next week, before hosting the high-flying Roosters the following week.

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