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TOOHEY'S NEWS | The NRL's high-priced elite stars may be out of reach for the Newcastle Knights
It may not be quite the "war-chest" some other NRL clubs appear to be amassing but Newcastle Knights coach Adam O'Brien will have just enough cash to potentially go on a decent spending spree if necessary to boost his squad for 2021.
But Knights fans praying for a couple of real high-end new recruits to potentially join big names Mitchell Pearce, David Klemmer and Kalyn Ponga on the roster may be disappointed.
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Our figures suggest the club's realistic recruitment targets won't include players of the calibre of a David Fifita or any others in the $800,000 - $1 million bracket unless some significant third party help materialises.
By our calculations, 11 players worth around $3.5 million are coming off contract at the end of next season. That doesn't include three players, Daniel Saifiti, Hymel Hunt and Mitch Barnett, who are off-contract but are about to be re-signed.
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Of those 11, the highest paid are Aidan Guerra, Connor Watson and Herman Ese'ese, who will earn close to $1.5 million between them next season.
Guerra is coming to the end of his NRL career and may look to finish up overseas beyond 2020 but Watson and Ese'ese will be chasing new deals along with a host of others.
How the club juggles their retention and recruitment, factoring in upgrades for players in 2021 including possibly a big one for Kalyn Ponga, will be a real test for O'Brien and newly appointed player list boss Alex McKinnon, who only took over the job this week from the departed recruitment boss Troy Pezet.
No surprise to hear McKinnon has been putting in long hours to get up to speed.
Shown the door
It has stayed under the radar until now but promising young Knights centre Mitch Andrews is facing an uncertain playing future after being sacked by the club for disciplinary reasons.
A number of off-field incidents involving alcohol, including a serious car accident last season, left Andrews walking a fine line with the club. He was read the riot act by officials at the time but clearly, it did not sink in.
Another alleged alcohol-related incident at the Knights' end-of-season presentation night at NEX club was the final straw. Newcastle CEO Phil Gardner confirmed to us Andrews is no longer at the Knights and that he has been barred from Wests' clubs. Andrews has since returned to his home town of Forbes in a bid to sort himself out. It's a big shame. Outside backs are thin on the ground at the Knights next season and he's a tough kid who did well enough in the NSW Cup last season to be strongly considered for a possible development contract prior to June 30.
Out of the hub
When they were house-hunting in Newcastle several weeks ago, Knights coach Adam O'Brien and his wife Sharyn really loved the look of Merewether before decided to rent Shaun Kenny-Dowall's place at Charlestown. O'Brien's reasons give a good insight into his thinking leading into his first season as a head coach.
"I think down the track, Merewether might be where we end up but I was also mindful the whole club lives at Merewether," he told us.
"I just thought I'm a pretty intense bloke, it's going to be a hard pre-season so do the players really need to be seeing me on their days off in their local cafe? Probably not so I thought it wise to be out of the hub."
Unlike his predecessor Nathan Brown, who rented during his four years in Newcastle, O'Brien is planning on buying a house in the city at some stage, saying he wants to stay well beyond the three years he has signed for initially.
'A good result'
It won't come in anywhere near the $1 million plus profit the Knights made in 2018 but we are hearing the club will announce a tidy profit for 2019 in the New Year.
The final figure is yet to be determined but Knights CEO Phil Gardner confirmed it will be "a good result for us". Gardner said more money was out-layed this year to better resource the club.
No doubt the payout to ex-coach Nathan Brown and a number of staff redundancies will also affect the bottom line.
Hunt bulks up
Newcastle centre Hymel Hunt was a big surprise packet last season - the only Knight to play every game despite being regarded as a depth signing when he joined the club.
But with the 25-year-old on the verge of officially securing a new two-year-deal, Knights fans are about to see a lot more of him - literally.
We're told Hunt has spent a good portion of the off season in the gym and has piled on 5 kgs of muscle to his frame in a bid to become a more dynamic proposition in the outside backs in 2020. And he's not the only player who will kick-off official pre-season training on Wednesday in great shape.
Hymel Hunt
Hymel Hunt
Despite still being on holidays, several players have been turning up a few times a week over the past month for voluntary sessions. On Tuesday, there were 18 at the club for a running session and 22 turned up on Thursday.
Clearly, new coach Adam O'Brien's reputation for being out of the Craig Bellamy-mould when it comes to mentally testing his players at training has not been lost on his squad.
O'Brien's response last week when we asked him about how tough training would be: "The boys will need to be comfortable about getting uncomfortable".
Moons' new role
After taking a decent break from dealing with the pressures of helping put a quality NRL playing roster together, former Knights head of football Darren Mooney has swapped sports.
Mooney, who is still living in Newcastle with his young family, is currently the Central Region manager for Tennis NSW, which covers a pretty big area that includes Newcastle, Central Coast and out to western NSW.
Mooney is also dabbling in coaching. He's the assistant coach of his son Lachie's Merewether Tigers Under 10's Blue cricket team. Head coach is Danny Buderus, whose son [Lachie as well] is also in the team. The jury's out on how much the kids are actually learning.
New centre delay
No surprise given how slow the wheels of local government move but we're told Newcastle's new sporting centre of excellence may not open until early 2021. The Knights had hoped it would be ready to start pre-season training in November next year.
