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.
7. Korbin Sims
Having grown up In Dragons territory on the NSW South Coast before signing for the Broncos to play in their NYC system, Korbin Sims returned to NSW in 2011 in order to join the Newcastle Knights NYC set up.
Two years after joining the Hunter based side, at the age of 21 Sims made his first-grade debut in round three of 2013. His performances over the remainder of that season were impressive enough to earn him a two-year contract extension as well as a place in Fiji’s World Cup squad.
Over the next three-years, Sims would establish himself as a regular in the team featuring predominantly at prop or lock, as well as becoming a fan favourite thanks to his no holds barred style of play. His impressive performances even lead to being named in the Queensland Origin Game II squad for the 2015 series, as well as regular features in the Emerging Maroons squads.
Following the departure of then-coach Wayne Bennett back to Brisbane, Korbin expressed an interest to follow suit, taking a substantial pay cut to leave Newcastle and join his former mentor. The Knights duly obliged, releasing him from the remainder of his contract to join the Broncos.
In the two years following his exit from Newcastle, Sims established himself as one of the NRL’s premier bench forwards, consistently maintaining or increasing the output and go-forward of whichever star player he replaced.
How doesn’t kirt Gidley get a mention?
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).