In: Todd Polglase (Rabbitohs), Paul Franze (union), Adam MacDougall (Rabbitohs), Mitchell Sargent (Cowboys).
Out: Todd Lowrie (Eels), Brian Carney (retired), Matt Gidley (St Helens), Anthony Quinn (Storm), Brendan Worth (Panthers), Matthew Kennedy (france), Dustin Cooper (Sharks) CraigSmith (retired).
Coach: Brian Smith
Scouting Report
If Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus stay healthy, the Knights will be an outside chance of repeating last year's 4th-placed finish. But with Johns ageing and Buderus playing in one of the most physically demanding positions in the game, such a scenario is unlikely. Added to that, when Brian Carney and Matt Gidley left the Knights, they took a good percentage of the team's strikepower with them. It's hard to see the club repeating last year's effort when they had the second-best attack in the league, scoring 106 tries.
That new coach Brian Smith is a technical and tactical whiz is undisputed. But neither is the fact that he was, at best, the club's third choice for the job (behind Matt Elliott and Tim Sheens) and has a style that simply rubs some players up the wrong way - the 2004 walkout at Parramatta of Jamie Lyon, who ran home to Wee Waa saying he'd rather retire at 22 than ever play again under Smith, being the classic case in point. If it all goes wrong, it could go spectacularly wrong.
Coach Brian Smith will almost certainly say
"Many thanks to the Newcastle board for giving me this chance. Sorry it didn't work out. Goodbye."
Smith probably won't say
"I'm seriously thinking about bringing back Matty Johns to replace his brother."
Reasons to be cheerful
Well, they do have the best player of the modern era on their books, after all.
Reasons to be fearful
Without Johns, the Knights are like my boss without his Viagra. Utterly impotent.
