Newcastle are taking a long-term approach with Kalyn Ponga's ankle injury, refusing to wheel him out in the final-round game and risk further problems.
Ponga will miss Saturday's final-round clash with St George Illawarra, a week after also sitting out the Knights' loss to Cronulla.
The 20-year-old was out of the moon boot and walking around the club's training base with a limp on Wednesday, as coach Nathan Brown revealed they could've pushed the fullback to play if needed.
"He could've probably played, but there is a risk if he keeps playing," Brown said.
"That's what we got told last week.
"He got put in the boot this week and all the reports were he is going to be fine and recover but if you keep pushing him it could end up getting a lot worse."
The Knights are 11th on the NRL ladder and well out of finals contention, but Brown is desperate to finish the season with a 10th win and double last year's victory tally of five.
Newcastle also won just one match in 2016 when Brown began the club's rebuild, and Ponga is seen as a crucial part of the club's rise going forward after starring in his first season in the Hunter this year despite hamstring and ankle problems.
"As much as we all want him to play and he would love to play, he is obviously a high-quality, high-end player that we feel can take the club to where we need to get to," Brown said.
"And we don't want to give him any chronic injury problems at such a young age."
Meanwhile 20-year-old hooker Tom Starling will get his chance to press for a spot at the start of next season after being given clearance from the NRL to debut from outside the Knights' top 30.
The Knights will still be looking for a bench hooker to complement Danny Levi at the start of next year with Slade Griffin expected to miss the opening months of 2018 as he recovers from knee surgery.
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