Rumoured Targets 3

[Knight Vision]

I think it would start to get closer to touch football at that stage. I’m all for speeding the game up and having less stoppages but there are other things you can do rather than just changing the number of players on the field.

lower the interchange. Bring the little man into the game once more.

 

[Silent Knight]

comedy central.

If winning premierships was based on sh*tting the bed, we’d forge our own St George dynasty with that halves combo.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

Cooper Johns is doing ok. Good vision and kicking game. He's been told that he can look elsewhere.

 

[Haffa]

Mullen? FFS Do people forget how keen we all were to see him off at the end? Why don't we get Kidley out of retirement too

 

[Zoidberg]

Mullen? FFS Do people forget how keen we all were to see him off at the end? Why don't we get Kidley out of retirement too

I may be in the minority but I was a Mullen fan. Thought he just needed the right team around him and would be a really good player.

 

[perverse]

I may be in the minority but I was a Mullen fan. Thought he just needed the right team around him and would be a really good player.

All the skills, but was a mental midget for the most part (and tbh not entirely his own fault there). Most often surrounded by trash and no forward pack, he could have been so much better in the right environment. His career is a real rugby league tragedy. The Knights and NSW ruined him. He really did have more natural talent than almost all of his contemporaries.

Was still my favourite player in his time here. Many examples of him winning us games off his own bat alone, and had some real purple patches in there too. We'd absolutely kill for his kicking game - and to be honest he eventually grew into a pretty decent organiser too. Would happily defend above his weight.

There's definitely this little place in my heart that would love to see him come back for a year or two if his body was up to it. My head tells me 4 years is too long out of the game, especially given what he got up to in exile. I think he's just too damaged and tainted to consider getting back on the field. In some respects it would be a huge step backwards for us too.

And I guess the last nail in the coffin of the idea is that Mullen has publically stated that he wouldn't want to come back to Newcastle as a town (or a team probably) either. Given the history, I can't blame him. I'd imagine getting him back would be pretty divisive amongst the fanbase too.

I love the guy and feel for what he went through during his career, but at the end of the day it's an unwritten fairytale that isn't meant to be. A 5/8th of Mullens calibre would slip straight into our team and make us 100 times better, though.

 

[Yosh]

I love Mullen. Favorite player for a long time.

Big for a half. Can tackle. Fast and evasive on the run. Great left boot. Not scared to chance his arm and could throw a bullet left to right. Thought we had our very own Freddie Fittler there for a while.

I think if he was in the Storm system, he would out Munster to shame. However, grew up in the wrong system at perhaps the worst time. Real pity. Was never a halfback and should have been given the freedom to do what he could naturally at five eight.

Can't see that ever happening under Wests and O'Brian.

 

[Haffa]

I think we all deep down love the bloke and all wanted him to succeed. I don’t care about his drug stuff we all have our demons. I just think by the end he wasn’t the player he was through a series of injuries and given his wage and return most were happy to see him gone. Just not in those circumstances.

in a perfect world he’d still be out number six

 

[Mr_Knightside]

Agreed. I wish I could go back in time to somewhere around 2007 and tell Mullen to get out and join the Storm or Roosters or a club that was about to enter a dynasty.

He could have been an all time great at one of those clubs but instead he stayed here and played probably less than 10 finals matches in his whole career and played a single Origin match which was only memorable for how badly the Blues were in that second half.

He spent 10 years at our club during the worst time in the club’s history. If he had been born 10 years earlier and played in that team during the 90s and early 2000s when Joey was at his peak we could have won another couple of premierships and Mullen would be a club legend.

Unfortunately all the pressure and expectation of being the “next Joey” weighed him down and sadly his career ended in disgrace and he came close to losing his life.

I can’t see him coming back to the Knights and I don’t think it would be wise for us to try and bring him back but I do hope he ends up playing first grade again with another club and making a difference somehow. It would be a great piece of redemption.

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

This

Unfortunately all the pressure and expectation of being the “next Joey” weighed him down and sadly his career ended in disgrace and he came close to losing his life.

Incredible pressure to perform up to the same standard as Joey and to develop his game with different skills he wasn't ready for.

I can’t see him coming back to the Knights and I don’t think it would be wise for us to try and bring him back but I do hope he ends up playing first grade again with another club and making a difference somehow. It would be a great piece of redemption.

From what I've read he'd be required to spend a season in NSW or Qld Cup. Odd requirement. We don't even know if those comps will go ahead next year yet.

 

[perverse]

You've gotta admit that Mullen playing outside Pearce and inside Ponga would be awesome if all the stars aligned. What is the risk of throwing him a bone exactly?

 

[slotmachine]

You blokes have been on the drink if you think a 34 year old jarrod mullen will ever play in the NRL again.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

You blokes have been on the drink if you think a 34 year old jarrod mullen will ever play in the NRL again.

I didn’t say I think he WILL. But I definitely HOPE that he gets a shot at it.

 

[Spot On]

You blokes have been on the drink if you think a 34 year old jarrod mullen will ever play in the NRL again.

... I'd say there's more being consumed than alcohol.

 

[perverse]

You blokes have been on the drink if you think a 34 year old jarrod mullen will ever play in the NRL again.

Probably, but I've seen stranger things happen in life.

 

[Burwood]

I thought he needed to play 12 months of reserve grade before NRL?

 

[NoSchitSherlock]

I thought he needed to play 12 months of reserve grade before NRL?

Apparently.
'
But the competition’s administrators have decreed he’ll have to play a season in the NSW or QRL Cup first. Those second-string competitions were cancelled this year due to the pandemic, and it’s unclear if they’ll be back in 2021.

The news was a blow to Mullen’s hopes, but he thinks differently now.

“But I now see it as a blessing in disguise,” he says. “If I was thrown to the wolves in the NRL, and failed miserably because my body couldn’t handle it, everyone will ask, ‘Why did you even try?’

“But I haven’t trained my arse off for two years to play in the local league. I’ve backed myself to play NRL again. I don’t care how old I am.”'
https://coupler.foxsports.com.au/ap...s/news-story/066672dc0aca7a7ad25ec1632b50d0f2

 

[Knight Tales]

Would not surprise me at all if Mullo and Aku pull on Knights jumpers again in 2021. Both would be dirt cheap too. And yeah if Mullo’s magnificent cut out pass is still in his repertoire KP will cut teams to ribbons.

 

[Spot On]

... and in other 'comeback' news... Michael Hagan and Ashley Gordon have been in training during COVID-19 and are determined to make a return to the Knights in 2022.

 

[mozza91]

I was a big fan of Mullen and would love to see him play footy again at some level. But he’s got as much chance of playing for the Knights again as Alex McKinnon does.