After the departure of legendary coach Wayne Bennett and the customary lurch he leaves every club in, the Knights have experienced some extremely dark days in the past few seasons, typified by three wooden spoons in a row they gained from 2015-2017.

However, off the back of a bumper two-year recruitment drive and some harsh lessons for their young squad, things are starting to look up in the Hunter, with the Knights hitting a purple patch of five wins in a row. While the squad they have at their disposal is impressive, they have let go of a fair share of talent in the past few seasons that Nathan Brown would no doubt love to have at his disposal currently.

Here are the top 10 players the Knights have let go, not re-signed or released in the last decade.

9. Tyrone Roberts

Another local junior let go by the club having played his junior footy with Wests Newcastle, Roberts was released at the conclusion of 2015 after a shaky season in which the Knights sacked their coach mid-season and won the wooden spoon.

While 2015 was an average season for Roberts, which can be said about almost every member of the Knights squad that year, in the four years prior he proved to be a fine servant for the club.

After debuting in round 6 of 2011 and playing sporadically for the remainder of the season, Roberts would go onto cement himself in the halves for the Knights in 2012, with his good form resulting in a new two-year contract to remain at the club. Roberts would affirm himself as the Knights go to half following consistent injuries to Jarrod Mullen, as well as becoming the Knights main goalkicker.

Over the coming seasons, Roberts would remain a constant figure for the club, appearing 97 times and scoring an impressive 21 tries, as well as representing Country Origin on two occasions in the now extinct Origin trial.

After a short stint in England’s North with Warrington, Roberts returned to the NRL with the Gold Coast Titans and has shown glimpses of his best form with his running game and game management being a particular highlight. He has also been anointed the Titans captain for the 2019 season, and while the young Knights are flying high, there is no doubt they could use his leadership and ball-playing skills to partner the one-man band that is Mitchel Pearce in the Knights halves.

Tyrone Roberts

2 COMMENTS

  1. Not much there is a great loss I would have thought except maybe Tariq Sims. He’s been good at Saints but not quite like at NQ before the broken legs – at that time I thought was almost Tallis/Ben Kennedy-like. Nothing against Sims, but horrific injuries like his take their toll. Boyd wasn’t that great at Newcastle – I thought Saints got the best years out of him and he hasn’t been as good back at Brisbane as he was at Kogarah/WIN. I don’t count Buderus as a loss – he’d just reached the end of a great career at Newie (brilliant work Saints – he trialled with us and we knocked him back, just like we passed on Thurston – nice one Peter Doust).

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