Bulldog Napa drawing Magic Round crowd

Canterbury prop Dylan Napa will have about 40 friends and family in his corner when the Bulldogs kick off Saturday's NRL Magic Round action against Newcastle.

The Napa contingent will gather at the pub strip before walking to Suncorp Stadium to watch the Brisbane native go head to head with David Klemmer, who will face his former club for the first time.

"To play in front of my mum and dad and friends is exciting; I've got about 40 or so coming from all over and I think Caxton Street is the meeting ground," he said.

"Always a big task, he's (Klemmer) a big man and that's why you play rugby league, for those little battles."

Napa is on the comeback from an ankle injury and concedes thoughts of a return to the State of Origin arena next month is never far from mind.

"I'd be lying if I said I don't think about Origin, but it's not the driving factor of why I go to training each day," he said.

Napa rattled off Jai Arrow, Josh McGuire and Josh Papalii as Queensland's form front-rowers but knows leading the last-placed Bulldogs (2-6) past the Knights (3-5) will help his cause.

"There's some really good Queensland forwards playing this year ... it puts pressure on me, but I love that," he said.

"But it's not really pressure, it's doing my job, going to work each day and there's no real pressure in that, doing what I love."

Kieran Foran will return from his own ankle injury to partner Jack Cogger in the halves for the first time, with Lachlan Lewis, Kerrod Holland and Rhyse Martin all dropped after last weekend's disappointing 18-10 loss to Manly.

Marcelo Montoya comes into the backline while Chris Smith has earnt a call-up.

"There was that fight in us to hold them out but we can't have that start again," Napa said.

Foran said he had "pushed the boundaries" to get back on the park but was confident he'd last 80 minutes.

STATS THAT MATTER

* Canterbury have won their past six games against Newcastle, with the Knights' last win coming in the 2013 finals series.

* The Knights are being awarded the most penalties in the competition this season (8 per game), while the Bulldogs are being awarded the fewest (4.4 per game).

* If the Knights score over 24 points it would be the first time they have done so in three straight games since 2010.

Australian Associated Press