Coach Adam O'Brien has remained coy on Newcastle's halves situation after a 14-12 defeat of undermanned Melbourne that snaps the Knights' winless start to the NRL season.
Sunday night's victory at McDonald Jones Stadium was far from emphatic but nevertheless eases pressure on last year's semi-finalists, who had looked shaky to begin the new year.
"I'm relieved," O'Brien said.
"At the end of the way just needed to find a way to win one and hopefully kickstart us from there."
O'Brien sensationally dropped Jackson Hastings for round three as he looked to re-energise his side but Jack Cogger largely misfired as he sought to lock away the halfback spot.
New recruit Cogger, Penrith's premiership-winning bench utility in 2023, sprayed his first kick out on the full and spilt the ball on a run through the middle of the park midway through the first half.
And as the Knights opened up a 14-0 half-time lead that proved game-defining, it was Kalyn Ponga and five-eighth Tyson Gamble setting up four-pointers.
Cogger appeared more comfortable running the ball in the second half but the Knights could not add to the scoreboard.
O'Brien was pleased with Cogger's first hit-out next to Gamble but would not commit to a halves pairing for next week's semi-final rematch against the Warriors.
"I don't need any headlines about chopping and changing and all of that. I'll just enjoy that win, look at the video and go from there," he said.
"I thought led by this guy (Ponga) I thought we were quite dangerous with the ball, especially in the first half.
"Things got a bit wild in the second but all in all, for the first week, I'm pretty with happy the way it went. It'll only get better."
Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen looked likelier to spark the attack than makeshift halves pairing Tyran Wishart and Jonah Pezet, replacing the banned Jahrome Hughes and injured Cam Munster.
He threatened to break free with his electric pace all night as the Storm probed the Knights' left edge.
He had Melbourne on the board when Xavier Coates hit Pezet's kick back to him at close range in the second half and after an error-prone start, the Storm appeared to lift.
Wishart skipped out of Leo Thompson's tackle and past Ponga for Melbourne's second and the visitors threatened to produce the kind of comeback that sealed last week's win over the Warriors.
But Papenhuyzen missed a last-minute attempt at a two-point field goal and Newcastle managed to avoid a repeat of the second-half collapses that cruelled them in the opening fortnight.
"We basically got what we deserved after our first half. We didn't complete well, we weren't really thinking too much about our footy," said Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
"It ended up costing us."
Storm centre Reimis Smith left with a rib injury midway through the first half and was replaced by Kane Bradley, who became a target for veteran Dane Gagai in only his fifth career game.
"It's obviously not (rib) cartilage because they said they couldn't inject it, so I'm not quite sure what it is," Bellamy said of Smith's injury.
Gagai opened the scoring when he grabbed a flat ball from Gamble and skipped past Bradley on the Knights' right edge.
The lead became two tries when Ponga, looking his dangerous self, sent a bullet out of dummy half that allowed Greg Marzhew's injury replacement Enari Tuala to cross untouched on the left wing.
