Sharks must match Knights’ emotion

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CRONULLA enforcer Andrew Fifita says it's impossible not to feel for the Newcastle Knights, but has challenged the struggling Sharks to match their emotion in Sunday's bottom-of-the-table NRL match at Hunter Stadium.

In a clash between the only two winless teams in the competition, the Sharks are on a hiding to nothing with all the sentiment for Newcastle in the wake of Alex McKinnon's shocking injury on Monday night.

The 22-year-old back-rower is in a critical but stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after being placed in an induced coma following emergency spinal surgery to repair two fractured vertebrae and have a disc removed.

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McKinnon's No.16 jumper has been retired for the rest of the season by the club, and his name will be embroidered on the front of the NRL side's shirts.

A huge crowd is expected, with representatives from McKinnon's junior club to form a guard of honour for the players when they run on to the field.

"My motivation is to get the win for the club and for Alex and to get this week over with," Knights forward Jeremy Smith told Triple M on Saturday.

"It has been tough. But the team's coping pretty well - we know we've got a job to do this weekend and we'll definitely be going out there with him on the back of our minds.

"He's just a champion bloke. He'd do anything for you, Alex." Smith, a one-time captain at Cronulla, knows the last-placed Sharks "have got everything to play for as well".

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Fifita acknowledged as much.

"If it was someone in our team, I would want to dedicate the season to them," Fifita said.

"I'd be thriving off it, using it as motivation.

"So they're going to come out with a lot of emotion and we've just got to match that." Fifita said he personally had added incentive to perform in his return from a two-match suspension for a round-one shoulder charge. During his layoff, the Test prop announced he was leaving Cronulla for the Bulldogs next season and has come under fire from disgruntled Sharks fans.

"It's been two long weeks and everything that's happened outside of football - and the Sharks are desperate for a win and Newcastle are desperate for a win," Fifita said.

"They're going to be coming out firing because of everything that's happening with Alex McKinnon and how they're zero and three.

"But then again we're zero and three and I've got a point to prove and I'm going to try to use that as motivation to get that go-forward for my players and earn the respect from the fans and the players around me." AAP djw/wk

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