Newcastle are chasing their first preliminary-final appearance since 2013 after consecutive victories over South Sydney and the Warriors in Auckland.
The Knights now face Penrith at Accor Stadium on Sunday, with the Panthers expected to be strong favourites.
Newcastle forward Francis Manuleleua could be assigned to Nathan Cleary, provided the Penrith halfback overcomes a foot problem.
Cleary has "a stress-related bone issue" after experiencing pain late in Penrith's 19-12 qualifying-final victory over the Sydney Roosters.
Manuleleua came through Penrith's lower grades and wants to disrupt the four-time premiership winner's influence.
"Cleary, he is obviously the one that leads their team and everything runs off him," Manuleleua said.
"I think if we can keep him quiet and force other players to pick up the slack, then that'll help us for this week.
"It'll be a good challenge, I know a few boys there so it'd be good to get one over them."
Newcastle finished seventh during the regular season, making its progress under coach Justin Holbrook unexpected.
The Knights remain without Trey Mooney, Dylan Brown and Daniel Saifiti, adding to their underdog status.
Five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe said Newcastle's confidence had grown despite being dismissed before both finals victories and during much of the season.
"That's been the mindset the last few weeks and to be honest we've been written off both games and for big parts of the year.
"Everyone within the four walls and this group's got great confidence in the footy and what that looks like.
"We're confident at the moment, we can beat whoever's in front of us, so that'll be no different next Sunday."