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.
2. Dane Gagai
After a glittering junior career at the Broncos, littered with multiple NYC Team of the Year selections as well as Junior Kangaroos caps, Dane Gagai was released by the Broncos in mid-2012 due to disciplinary reasons.
He was promptly snapped up by Knights coach Wayne Bennett, whom Gagai was familiar with thanks to his time in the Broncos junior ranks. He immediately became a regular for the Knights, playing 12 matches in his rookie season and scoring an impressive 5 tries.
Over the next five years in Newcastle, Gagai would establish himself as the Knights best player and one of the premier outside backs in the competition.
Having made 128 appearances and scoring 29 tries in his five-year stint in the Hunter, Gagai became well renowned for utilising his speed, footwork, and strong palm to lay on numerous tries for whichever winger was lucky enough to play outside of him. Gagai’s knack of carrying most of the Knights attacking load didn’t go unnoticed, with the Mackay junior becoming a regular for the Maroons and Kangaroos since 2015.
Having endured the Knights taxing rebuild, Gagai eventually decided enough was enough, announcing that he wanted to leave the Hunter for greener pastures in the form of a four-year contract with the Rabbitohs. He claimed to be happy in Newcastle but decided to leave after he felt that he “wasn’t really wanted at the club.”
What has happened since has been no great surprise to anyone, with Gagai continuing on the upward trajectory that he was on at Newcastle. Performing much the same role for the Rabbitohs as he did at the Knights, creating and laying on quality opportunities for the men outside him and continuing to score tries at an alarming rate for the Maroons and Kangaroos.
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).