Friday, 20 April 2018:

Panthers coach IVAN CLEARY speaks to the media during a NRL Finals series press conference at Rugby League Central in Sydney, Australia.

Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary admits their lack of success in recent years have resulted in the club being forced to take some home games elsewhere this NRL season.

Cleary takes his rolling bus on the road to Tamworth on Saturday where they face another one of the league's early-season upstarts in Newcastle.

It is the second "home" game in a row where they will host a rival team away from one of their traditional venues, having also defeated Melbourne by one point in Auckland in round five.

"It's just part of our story. Obviously we're a merged club and that brings with it not one common base as a home ground," Cleary said.

"And we're having a few more because the club has a mandate to try and be financially viable and I think that's a really good thing to do. It's really responsible.

"And part of that is based on many seasons of not making the finals.

"The first one we did against Melbourne over in Auckland was a success for us, so we're looking forward to doing the same this week."

While delighted with his team's soaring confidence that comes with their 5-1 start to the season, Cleary is now weary of the pressure set to come with their success.

He is unsure when - or where - their bubble will burst.

"It's obvious the competition's incredibly even this year and wide open," he said.

"Without trying to forecast too much, we'll try to keep ourselves focused on the job at hand and where it gets us, that's where it gets us."

The Tigers take on a Knights side whose honeymoon is seemingly over, having lost three of their past four matches following back-to-back wins to open their season.

But Cleary has been forced into a couple of changes, with co-captains Chris Lawrence (hamstring) and Josh Reynolds (shoulder) out for at least two weeks.

Knights coach Nathan Brown has opted to dump Brock Lamb in favour of Jack Cogger.

STATS THAT MATTER

* This will be the first NRL match at Scully Park. A City-Country match in 2016 attracted a crowd of 8,317.

* The Tigers have conceded just 16 points in first halves this season, with the next best being the Sydney Roosters' 42.

* The Tigers have not been this high up on the NRL ladder at this point in the season since round eight, 2014.

AAP