Topping the regular season try tally is proof the Newcastle Knights are genuine premiership contenders, according to Billy Slater.
The Knights scored 114 tries in the home-and-away season, two more than the Broncos in second, with the Panthers (110), Storm (109) and Sharks (107) just behind.
Perhaps more surprising was during their sensational stretch of nine straight wins to barge into the finals, they also conceded on average only two tries per game.
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“That’s premiership-winning defence,” the Storm legend said on Nine’s The Billy Slater Podcast.
“They’re a team-first team. They’re flying, they’re the feel-good team at the moment. They’ve got this buzz about them and they’ve got all the momentum.
“You think about the quality of players (for other leading clubs), and we all talk about this Broncos attack and how it can just blow you away and they’ve got all this strike.
“But the Knights have scored more tries than them. They’re not doing it a conservative way – they’re playing football.”
Dominic Young’s 23-try campaign meant he broke the club’s all-time try-scoring record for the season.
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“And you think about the players that they’ve had at the Knights,” Slater said of Young’s effort.
“(Head coach) Adam O’Brien has done a wonderful job. He won’t get a mention for coach of the year, but he has done a wonderful job this year.
“To get his players all playing together, all buying in, it’s like they’re playing for a higher purpose, which is really powerful.”
The Knights will host the Raiders at a sold-out McDonald Jones Stadium in an elimination final on Sunday afternoon.
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Slater believes the Knights will win.
“But if Newcastle think they’re going to get an easy run into the next week of the finals, they’re gonna get a rude shock,” he said.
“The Raiders have got some other unorthodox players, and if it goes their way early and they get their tails up, they will drag you into the trenches and they will make you earn an opportunity to play in the next week of the finals.
“Do I think it will happen? No.
“I think Newcastle are going to be too good for Canberra, but they’ve got that capability.”