Newcastle skipper Kurt Gidley says the return of Rick Stone to the head coaching role at the Knights has helped the club enjoy a seamless pre-season.
The Knights open their season at home to the Warriors on Saturday at Hunter Stadium and Gidley believes the team showed signs at the end of last season that they're not far from being a top-four team.
Stone was head coach in 2009 and 2010 before Bennett took his job in 2011 and made him an assistant coach.
"It's been good having Stoney back," Gidley told AAP.
"He was obviously in charge before Wayne came in and showed he can do a good job as we got to the finals.
"He was the ultimate professional when Wayne arrived and did all the video work for him as well as working on the training ground and I am sure he probably learnt a few things from him - I know I did."
The year of 2014 proved to a be disastrous one for the Knights with ownership issues involving Nathan Tinkler and the tragic injury to Alex McKinnon overshadowing anything that happened on the field.
Although they were out of the finals, the team discovered their mojo in the final throes of the season with four wins from their last five games to finish the season with a flourish.
"Last year was very difficult for all of us," Gidley said.
"However, when we got it together we showed just what we could do. We put 40 points on Parramatta and the Dragons in our last two games at home and we have to make it a place where teams don't want to play this year."
Key stats
* The Knights have managed just four wins from their last 16 games against the Warriors.
* Since 2005, 14 of the 18 matches between the two sides have been decided by 12 points or less.
* The Knights had a horror start to 2014, winning two of their opening 13 games, before turning it around to win eight of their final 11, including their final five games at home.
* The Warriors won just four from 12 matches away last year, including losing all five of their matches in NSW. They have won just twice in the state since 2013.
* The Warriors have generally struggled in the opening round and have lost their past five round 1 matches.
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