It was the rare cross-code meeting Newcastle hope can transform them from dwarfs to giants.
Knights coach Nathan Brown has revealed turning to GWS Giants counterpart Leon Cameron to understand how the youngest team in the AFL became this year's flag favourites.
On the same day his team were unlucky to lose to Manly 18-14 at Lottoland, Brown met with Cameron to discuss the similarities between the building of their respective rosters with youth.
"We just had a chat about kids and because what we've done, we're a bit different. I don't think any club's done what we've done in the NRL since the NRL's been the NRL," Brown said.
"All the kids, like Sione (Mata'utia) who have come through the 20s a number of years ago, are basically like our draft picks. We've just gone straight back to scratch.
"Today all of our forward pack, except for Josh Starling, have come from Newcastle and are first and second-year players. The physicality of the game and learning how to win, it's tough."
Brown also admitted after the game that the Knights were in deep discussions with Sydney Roosters forward Aidan Guerra to move to the club at the end of the year.
The recruitment of the State of Origin star would be a major hit for a club that has struggled to lure big-name players such as Jack Bird, Matt Scott and Dale Finucane.
"I couldn't confirm that he's signed," Brown said of the speculation.
"But I can certainly tell you he's definitely a player of interest that we've met with a number of times. Where it ends up, I couldn't honestly tell you at this stage."
After meeting with Cameron on Friday, Brown insists the Knights must take a leaf out of the Giants' blueprint and wait for the right player to come along in free agency.
While the foundation of the Giants' development into a premiership force is built on their concessions and draft picks, the franchise has also recruited astutely.
Brown believes that, like the Giants, the Knights have had to rebuild from scratch.
"That was the purpose of meeting with Leon today. We've started again with kids, not with signing Marty Taupau and blokes like that," Brown said.
"We've just started with a whole heap of kids - that's common in the AFL but not common in the NRL. That was the pathway we decided to take as a whole club two years ago.
"And that's the one we're going to continue to take until we find the right senior players to sign.
"We've got to get it right because if we get it wrong, the Knights will have another five to six bad years like the last 11 years have been."
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