Newcastle coach Nathan Brown is resigned to the NRL club claiming a third consecutive wooden spoon, but insists this time it's different.
A 46-28 loss to Canberra on Friday night all but assured the Knights of being the first team since Gold Coast (1991-1993) to prop up the ladder for three seasons running.
The Knights are one game behind 15th-placed Wests Tigers and have an inferior points differential ahead of the final round.
"I'm pretty confident with where the Tigers sit and where we sit we'll get the spoon," Brown said.
"But the spoon last year to the spoon this year is a real different one because a lot of the young kids have had 35-40 games now and they'll get a third pre-season next year."
The young Knights have shown glimpses of hope this year, winning five games, a vast improvement on last year's sole win.
They picked up Shaun Kenny-Dowall after he was released by the Sydney Roosters mid-season, while Aidan Guerra will also trade Bondi for Newcastle next season.
Roosters utility Connor Watson will also join the Knights along with highly-rated young North Queensland half Kalyn Ponga.
"We've got some recruitment decisions we think are really good for the club and we've still got a few more to make," Brown said.
Watson, Ponga and Brock Lamb could make it hard for Trent Hodkinson to find his way into the team, but Brown was coy about his future.
"There'll be a lot of competition in our halves next year," Brown said.
"We're in a strong cap position and Hocko know where he stands.
"I've had a number of conversations with Hocko and if Trent Hodkinson is with us we're more than comfortable with that.
"If something happened that Trent wasn't with us well we can work through that as well."
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