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.
5. Joseph Leilua
Following a prolific junior career at the Dragons and Roosters, Leilua was released from the remainder of his Roosters contract due to disciplinary reasons, he was promptly snapped up by the Knights on a two-year contract.
Having played mainly as a winger at the Roosters, Leilua was deployed predominantly In the centres by coach Wayne Bennett to great effect, scoring 30 tries in 54 games for Newcastle. Having previously struggled with disciplinary and fitness issues, Leilua found a consistent vein of form under Wayne Bennett, culminating in a City Origin cap as well as cementing himself in the Samoan side.
After promising so much over his first two seasons for the club, sadly for Newcastle fans, his off-field inconsistencies reared their heads once more. Following Wayne Bennett’s departure from the club, questions were raised of Leilua’s fitness and attitude during the 2015 pre-season under new coach Rick Stone.
However, he remained in the starting team over the early rounds, but Leilua exercised a get-out clause making him a free agent for the 2016 season and was later released from the remainder of his Knights contract to join the Raiders mid-season.
Only a year later, Leilua was named Dally M centre of the Year and has gone onto forge one of the most dangerous attacking duos in the competition with fellow outside back Jordan Rapana. In his 86 games for the Raiders, Leilua has netted an impressive 39 tries and laid on many more for his wing partner, with his offloading prowess and powerful ball-running proving to be a constant threat for opposition teams.
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).