Are the Newcastle Knights a one-man team?

If you listen to fools, the mob (Knights) rules.

How many years have Brisbane supporters been crowing about the trophy cabinet to the Cowboys supporters yet rarely mentioning where those players came from? The Tweed separates Qld from NSW. The Tropic of Capricorn (Rockhampton) is where the North and South seperate. Are you suggesting the Brisbane Broncos catchment goes past the South anymore? The Brisbane Captains: Miles (Townsville), Dowling (Ingham), Tallis (Townsville), Hodges (Cairns), Thiaday (Townsville) and I'd hate to name the other players that Brisbane claimed as developing. In fairness there is 3.6 million in the South East that can be branded Broncos and shared with the Titans. There is a mere 1.4 million from Rocky to the top of Cape York and West to the Isa which is Cowboys country IMO. North Queensland? Matt Sing is Winton born schooled (North Rockhampton) and Matt Scott Longreach so they are ours to claim. Come on Nat, don't be greedy and let us country blokes rejoice with our little 25,000 seat $200million Stadium while you blokes can boast about your 50,000 seat $500million.

Glenn Hughes played better in the Deep Purple team. Good analogy BTW. NRL players, like band members are a better fit some team (bands) than others even if they are exceptionally talented in their own right. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts

"Would you rather Kalyn Ponga or Nick Meaney at fullback? Mitchell Pearce or Jack Cogger at halfback?" ....as a Bulldog's supporter the answer to these questions is easy Morshead! ;)

While I agree, 'locals' from list you gave does have a wide geo range there. Not many team have a Rocky - Weipa - Mt Isa claim to locals.

You're spot on Succhi. When teams have 2/3 local talent in their squad they are in a good place to be regularly motivated by pride rather than money. The first 7 years of the Cowboys existence the tools running the club focused on signing southern has beens and bench players. They were here for a fat pay day and fishing. The Rabieh Krayem run basket case turned their backs on the locals and almost sent the bankrupt. It wasn't until they started bring through the Local boys like Bowen, Bowman, Paine, Williams, Hannay, Scott, Doyle, Buttergeig, Fein, Jensen and got experienced players back home like Norton, Champion, and Sing that they found the desire to play for that bit extra. The Newcastle kids need to have that opportunity to represent their community IMO.

Yes, interesting point. I think a city like Newcastle does well when the locals can relate to the players. But you are right, what makes a local player these days is a bit murky.

I think your overall point is valid, but define what an 'outsider' is these days - born there in that town/suburb, born in their feeder area, not born there but raised there, brought in as a teenager, or u/20s player? Then run that rule over every club. I would think the Knights stack up okay against other clubs. As for bringing in outsiders, honestly, the Knights have never had the financial clout to do that till the last few years and 'had' to hang on to locals as best they could. Would you rather Kalyn Ponga or Nick Meaney at fullback? Mitchell Pearce or Jack Cogger at halfback? Chris Adams or Jayden Brailey at hooker? Where strong local juniors does pay is building up depth and competitiveness and offers you flexibility in list management as you always have a good junior coming through for half the price of the guy you want to let go.

I think I posted once before suggesting the Knights are a team that need local juniors playing first grade. I’m sure Adrian will correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t recall an era when the Knights have purchased so many ‘outsiders’, particularly in key positions?

I respect your use of dead musicians Adrian but, as a Genesis fan, shouldn't you have included Phil Collins? (though one could argue that he's talent is less than that of any self-respecting dead drummer!) ;)

I'm not sure Pearce is the sole player the Knights need to fire for success. The Knights have the strike but they are giving up way to many points to be a top 8 team. Their defence away from home was terrible and that to me smell like culture/attitude issues. What are they doing when travelling?

I totally agree. The same argument I use when JT is the only reason the Cowboys were successful. Very good playmakers in some very good teams.

''Killer'' isn't the first word that springs to mind when I watch Kurt Mann play in the past but I'll keep an eye on him this season to see how he goes. I heard Bradman Beast described as a ''Work Horse'' somewhere the other day. Knights fans would be hoping for a bit more than that from an 18 year old outside back.

Who were the 3 really good guys running the show at the Raiders ? Hodgson alone ran the show..Jack W the runner and Sezar was dead man walking. Cam Smith and Damian Cook basically run their sides as well. Roosters lose Keary, which is probable considering his history of head knocks,they're toast. Pearcey runs Newcastle, Mann the Sezar and hopefully we are yet to see the best of Brailey. If he’s not there Watson could go to 6 and Lino to 7..juniors with potential coming thru include Crossland, Hoy and Sasagi..not good but most clubs in the same boat.Manly and Cherry etc. Will be very interesting to see how close to the center of the ruck O’Brien plays Ponga in attack considering he had more line break assists last year than Munster and Cronk and Mal showed belief in him as a playmaking 6 a couple of months ago..

For the duration of his first grade career, the Knights had a 60% win record with Johns and 40% win record without him. He would be important to any team, but he wasn't a one man team.

Pearce is no Ronnie James Dio, more like Tony Martin. And Ponga is no Iommi.