Knights home in on rebuilding fans' faith
BY BRETT KEEBLE
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THESE are the numbers the Newcastle Knights hope will help convince disenfranchised supporters that the club has not turned its back on its prolific junior nursery.
One of the most consistent criticisms levelled at Brian Smith during the former coach's reign of almost three years was that the Knights signed too many imported players at the expense of those produced in the Hunter and adjoining areas.
For an NRL club flying under the flag of "Our Town, Our Team" since its 1988 foundation year, that policy was unpalatable to many long-term fans. The belief that the same principles had also been applied to the club's junior representative teams was unacceptable.
Rather than argue the toss over truth versus perception, the Knights have acknowledged the antipathy apparent among their supporter base and the need to address it by reinforcing the bonds with their home-grown talent.
Knights strategic development manager Keith Onslow said there would be a stronger local flavour when their junior representative squads assemble next week for pre-season training.
Onslow was in charge of the Knights' junior development and talent identification in their formative years, when the likes of Andrew and Matthew Johns, Matt Gidley and Danny Buderus graduated from the junior system to first grade and beyond.
Including those from the traditional feeder areas of the Central Coast and Mid North Coast, Onslow said the Harold Matthews (under 16s), Chargers youth squad (under 15s and 16s) and Hunter Academy of Sport team (under 17s) would be 100 per cent locally produced. Eight players in the Matthews, Chargers and Hunter Academy squads are graduates of the Manning (Taree) and Hastings (Port Macquarie) academy programs the Knights launched three years ago.
"Those squads are overseen by Laurie Clifton and Matt Lantry from Newcastle Knights Development and are staffed by local coaches, so we're extremely pleased to see eight kids come through that program in the space of three years," Onslow said.
Most of the negative scrutiny has been directed at Newcastle's SG Ball (under 18s) and National Youth Cup (under 20s) teams. The Knights finished 12th in NYC last year and improved slightly to run 10th this season.
Onslow said the NYC side contained "about 45 per cent" Hunter and regional products this year and last year, and less than half of this year's SG Ball team hailed from this area.
But he said the local content in the under 18s had increased to 81 per cent for next year, and the NYC side would be "almost 60 per cent local".
Fifteen per cent of NYC players were entering their third season at the Knights and another eight per cent were in their second year, leaving just 18 per cent recruited from elsewhere.
"When you've been here a few years, people generally start classing you as one of their own anyway just ask Tony Butterfield [from Penrith] or Marc Glanville [from Wagga Wagga]," Onslow said, referring to the roots of two of the club's favourite sons.
"The charter of this club will always be to grow its own, however, recruiting from outside the area to supplement our own is and shall continue to be part of the process."
The education program for the club's juniors will include presentations each week on issues like drug and alcohol awareness, decision-making, nutrition and financial planning. Speakers will include Butterfield, fellow foundation player Ashley Gordon and Knights CEO Steve Burraston.
"From that they will complete a workbook, which becomes their ticket into training camp in December," Onslow said.
Knights director and premiership-winning captain Paul Harragon conducted the first of those on Thursday night to welcome players and their parents to the club.
"I explained that it's not about where you start, it's where you finish," Harragon said. "Some blokes might stay in the system all the way and some might be in it for a year.
"The important thing is that any kid who comes into this club will come out of it a better person a better citizen."
Herald
