Experienced international may prop up ailing Knights
BY ROBERT DILLON
21 Jun, 2010 12:00 AM
IN the 22 years since their inception, the Newcastle Knights have only twice signed former Australian international players from rival clubs.
In 1998, they recruited Steve Walters from North Queensland, but the champion hooker lasted just seven games before a knee injury forced him into retirement.
In 2007, six years after he last represented his country, they lured 31-year-old Adam MacDougall back to the fold after three seasons with South Sydney.
But apart from Walters and MacDougall, Newcastle have never signed an Australian player with Test experience, let alone an incumbent Kangaroo.
So news that the Knights are on the verge of adding North Queensland forward Antonio Kaufusi to their roster should, in normal circumstances, be hailed as something of a coup.
Kaufusi has not only worn the green and gold, he has represented Queensland, played in two grand finals for Melbourne and racked up more than 100 NRL games.
His resume suggests he is just what Newcastle need as they attempt to bolster a front-row rotation depleted by the much-publicised departures of Danny Wicks and Chris Houston and Evarn Tuimavave's season-ending injury.
But signing Kaufusi, a prospect that hinges on further negotiations between Newcastle and North Queensland, would nonetheless represent a significant gamble by Knights management.
At the age of 25, the Tongan-born prop should be in the prime of his career.
But his selection as reserve for North Queensland's feeder side, Mackay, at the weekend, gives some indication how far from favour he has fallen with the Cowboys.
Cowboys coach Neil Henry has apparently lost patience with Kaufusi, and statistics this season suggest that the 190-centimetre, 112-kilogram bookend is not providing enough hard yards around the rucks.
In 11 appearances, he has averaged 35.1 minutes of on-field action, yet he is producing only 6.5 hit-ups or 53.8 metres per game.
The Cowboys have seven forwards who are averaging more metres in attack than Kaufusi, which perhaps explains why he is on the outer.
But they say that one man's trash is another man's treasure, and the Knights are in no position to be fussy with the June 30 deadline for mid-season signings looming large.
To pick up a player of Kaufusi's experience at this late stage of proceedings would be a bonus.
He might also provide them with the defensive muscle they have been lacking all season.
So far this year, Kaufusi has made 188 tackles and missed only four.
His missed-tackle average of 0.4 per game is one of the best in the NRL and significantly better than the corresponding stats any Newcastle forward has produced.
Given that the Knights have conceded the majority of their 60 tries this year in the middle of the field, from inside their own 10-metre zone, Kaufusi's numbers indicate he may well strengthen their most vulnerable area. And if he can reproduce the form he showed in 2006, when he played in 25 games for Melbourne, was a starting prop in their grand final loss to Brisbane and made his lone Test appearance, maybe it is not too late for Newcastle's fortunes to take a turn for the better.
