Inexperienced Brisbane fullback Gerard Beale is anticipating a bombing raid from Andrew Johns prodigy Jarrod Mullen in Monday night's NRL clash with Newcastle at Suncorp Stadium.

With Mullen having learned from the master, Beale has squeezed in some extra work fielding an array of kicks off the boot of Darren Lockyer in the lead-up to the game in anticipation of an aerial attack.

The difficulty for a fullback against a kicker of Mullen's class is he can be so hard to read.

"You have to try and be a play ahead and hope you read it right," said Beale, deputising for Josh Hoffman, who's battling a nasty shin cork and bone bruising.

"I've had Locky (Lockyer) putting up some of his bombs and various other kicks to get some confidence and help me work on things.

"It's a tough job but if us back three (wingers Jharal Yow Yeh and Jack Reed) work together, we should be right. I feel comfortable with those guys.

"I haven't played fullback for a few years but it gives me a chance to get my hands on the ball a bit more which is something I like to do."

Coach Anthony Griffin acknowledged that Brisbane's handling of Mullen's kicking game would be crucial to the outcome.

"Their halves (Mullen and Kurt Gidley) have played Origin and for Australia. They've got great kicking games and they score a lot of tries off kicks with (Akuila) Uate and (James) McManus and people like that on the end of them," said Griffin who was signed up until 2013 on Friday.

"It's going to be a big night defending their kicks and they've also got a lot of variety on fifth-play options.

"They can run the ball on the fifth play. They use plenty of width and they've got a real arsenal of kicking options between the two of them.

"How we defend that fifth play will be a big factor in the outcome of the game."

Griffin made a number of changes after the side trained at Red Hill on Sunday morning.

Young winger Dale Copley, who has been a little shaky under the high balls, has been sent back to the under-20s with rookie Jack Reed shifting to the wing and Ben Te'o coming off the bench to start in the centres.

Griffin has also re-ignited the NRL career of premiership-winning Bronco Dane Carlaw, who along with Nick Kenny and Corey Norman form a new-look bench against the physical Knights.

Newcastle, who arrived in Brisbane on Sunday afternoon after training at home, have ruled out back-rower Zeb Taia with a bulging disc in his neck, promoting Cory Peterson from the bench.

They'll also make a late decision on hooker Isaac De Gois, who although not named in their original squad on Tuesday, has passed a fitness test late in the week.

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