Newcastle coach Nathan Brown remains confident of landing a big name for next season despite being recently turned down by Cronulla star Jack Bird.
The Knights were believed to be in the box seat to sign the premiership-winning centre last week but were outbid at the last minute by the Broncos.
Their latest recruitment blow comes just two weeks after failing to lure Melbourne forward Dale Finucane to the club, and walking away from talks with injured Kangaroos prop Matt Scott.
However Brown insists he can still convince a high-profile player to fast-track the club’s rebuilding stage, and suggested their next target may not even be off-contract this year.
“Just because the player’s on contract doesn’t really mean a great deal today,” Brown said following the Knights’ loss to the Sydney Roosters on Friday.
“If (clubs) want to sign someone else, or we might want them and the managers… they control a fair bit of the game today. They actually have a fair bit of influence in the game.
“We’ll get our knockbacks along the way because of where we are as a club. That’s just part of building, starting from where we are.
“But we’re confident we’ll certainly enhance the squad a lot for next year.”
Brown conceded the 22-year-old Bird, who was likely to be used at five-eighth in the Hunter, was an obvious target because of his attacking ability and versatility.
But the second-year Knights mentor said there are plenty more fish left in the NRL sea.
“The key is finding the right ones for us. Obviously a Jack Bird, he ticks all the boxes. He’s obviously got a lot of good years in him still,” he said.
“We certainly know the types of players we need, we’ll just keep working hard to try and attract them. You just gotta dust yourself off, come back into the market and look at the next one.
“There’s plenty of good players on the market, and as I said, there’s plenty of clubs that may need to move people to do what they need to do as well.”
Brown said the Knights have been left reeling by the drugs suspension of Jarrod Mullen and long-term injuries to new recruits Jamie Buhrer and Rory Kostjasyn.
Kostjasyn, who was brought in from North Queensland as the Knights’ No.1 hooker, has yet to play a game this year due to a throat infection that could force him to retire.
“I’d say indefinite is probably the correct one. We’re not sure to be honest with you,” he said.
“I’m not sure if he’ll come back in two weeks or four weeks, or if he’ll come back. We’re not sure at this stage, it’s not positive at this stage.
“We’re in a situation where we’ve got Rory and Jamie, our two most experienced players and the two players that have got any sort of profile that we brought to the club this year.
“Unfortunately Rory hasn’t played yet and Jamie’s now had what’s happened to Jamie, and they’re really important for us.
“The Mullo situation – Mullo’s our highest paid player and we’re still paying him and he can’t play, and he plays an important position.”
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