Newcastle's fall from finals contention has been apparent to Mitchell Pearce who has missed out on up to $150,000 in bonus payments, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Upon leaving the Roosters, the 30-year old took a four-year deal at Newcastle on a performance-based contract that club officials hoped would give the marquee player further incentive.
It is standard practice for players to include bonuses for Origin and Test selection in their NRL contracts but Pearce tied his to club performance instead.
If the Knights had made the top four Pearce would have earned an additional $150,000 and a further $75,000 just for making the top eight. The Newcastle roster with five State of Origin stars was expected to make the finals with a top four finish looking possible during their six-game winning streak mid-season.
With a base salary of $900,000 those bonuses would have made Pearce a seven-figure player and can be triggered every year of his contract.
With their shocker against Wests Tigers last weekend at Campbelltown the Knights' finals hopes are barely hanging on and their captain is unlikely to get his bonus.
Pearce was in stunning form leading up to the Origin period, winning six man-of-the-match awards, which earned him a call-up for the series-decider in Sydney and $30,000.
Newcastle chief executive Phil Gardner wrote a letter to members on Wednesday in which he took a dig at those who threw accusations around after Brown's exit while defending Pearce and Kalyn Ponga.
"Suggestions of sabotage from the front office while finals were at stake is ludicrous," he wrote.
"As a result, many unfounded and wildly inaccurate claims have been made."
"Mitchell Pearce's leadership has also come into question."
"I must stress, Mitchell is not responsible for what is happening at the club and is hurting as much as anyone. He is a winner and loves playing this game."
Senior player Jamie Buhrer spoke about the rumours of a player split, "We're all unified as players in our role here and what we need to do."
"There's no split, no divide. We're in this together."
The Knights host last placed Gold Coast at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday with their only chance of finals coming if the Eels beat the Broncos on Friday night. If things don't go their way the Knights' finals drought will extend to six seasons.
