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The NRL's bottom two sides will kick off the NRL's Magic Round on Friday night and Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett has challenged Matt Burton to deliver.

Canterbury coach Trent Barrett has called on playmaker Matt Burton to bring the magic to the bottom-of-the-table tussle that will kick off three days of rugby league at Suncorp Stadium.

It's 15th against 16th on Friday to begin the NRL's Magic Round in Brisbane, both the Bulldogs and Newcastle eyeing a third win to improve rocky 2-7 starts to the season.

And while valiant in losses, Barrett sees Penrith recruit Burton as the man to provide the polish that's been missing when it matters.

"He's got that in him," Barrett said of his match-turning five-eighth.

"Burto's a pretty introverted player away from the field but he is that bloke (on the field).

"He's come up with good plays in the last few weeks at crucial times and we know that's in him, he's the one we can really follow.

"(Fullback Matt) Dufty and Burton are keys to us; the rest just have to do their job."

The Bulldogs mustered just four points against Canberra last week in a let-down after their upset of the Sydney Roosters a week earlier.

But the Knights are no better, on a seven-game losing streak since opening the season 2-0.

They've lost by a combined score of 125-20 in the last three weeks alone but in captain and fullback Kalyn Ponga showed signs of life in last week's 36-16 loss to North Queensland.

"Newcastle are in a similar situation (to us) ... this weekend's really important,' Barrett said.

"The errors we tossed up (in last week's loss), really unforced errors, they're the ones we need to get out of our game.

"We make it too hard on ourselves still searching for the 80 minutes; can't fault their effort but effort alone won't win you a game."