Newcastle’s season begun on a high but the good times were short lived and things quickly came crashing down.
The Knights beat the Roosters and Tigers to kick off their 2022 campaign, but failed to capitalise on the hot start.
Their best player – Kalyn Ponga – was consistently sidelined with injury, while off-field incidents clearly had an influence on the team’s performance.
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Adam O’Brien’s tenure is under the microscope after recording only six wins to finish 14th, while Ponga’s toilet cubicle incident shone a spotlight on the club’s culture.
Newcastle faithful expect better from a team with such rich history — and the Knights will be desperately hoping to improve come 2023.
Read on for the Knights’ 2022 season review.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS SEASON REVIEW
2022 Record: W6 L18, win rate 25%
Season grade: D-
What went right: Newcastle unearthed some stars of the future in 2022.
Dominic Young had an excellent season after enduring a slow start to his NRL career in 2021.
The English import, who is primed to debut for his country at this year’s World Cup, scored 14 tries.
That figure is impressive considering how lacklustre Newcastle looked in attack throughout the year.
The 21-year-old finished equal 11th place on the tries leaderboard, while also recording 17 line breaks, equal with Storm star Cameron Munster and Panthers young gun Taylan May in 9th.
Young’s meteoric rise even surprised coach Adam O’Brien who labelled his performances “unbelievable”.
“When he first came out he was a young school kid really and moved out of home, all the way over to Australia,” O’Brien said following his side’s Round 25 clash.
“The first summer was a real shock to him, his second he did a complete 180, it was like his twin came out.
“He just handled everything so much better, he has been arguably our best performer in the backs all year, he has been so consistent.
“He had that injury and we missed him terribly, then to look at a young bloke that was a school kid not too long ago, to really miss him in your team, that says a lot about him.
“I know he has been picked in the England squad and he thoroughly deserves that.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien blooded a number of other young guns including Mat Croker, Krystian Mapapalangi and Simi Sasagi.
Croker has shown he will be an important middle forward in Newcastle for years to come, while Mapapalangi and Sasagi both showed dynamic attacking skills in their handful of games.
What went wrong: It is always hard to deliver on the field when your marquee player is sidelined.
Kalyn Ponga, who signed a five-year multimillion-dollar extension earlier this season, is clearly the club’s best player and is attacking output is crucial to the club’s success.
But this season the 24-year-old suffered five head knocks and didn’t return to the field after failing a HIA three times.
The Maroons gun remained sidelined after Round 19, and then thrust himself front and centre of headlines.
If missing your key player wasn’t bad enough, Ponga, alongside injured teammate Kurt Mann were filmed being escorted from a toilet cubicle, sparking an NRL and internal club investigation.
While the pair escaped sanction, the controversy highlighted a number of attitude issues in the playing squad.
The Knights recruited Peter Parr to take over as director of football — but after the pair weren’t penalised, The Daily Telegraph’s Buzz Rothfield believed the cracks were growing.
“I am told they are not treating it all that seriously, that their captain and their injured teammate went out when they were supposed to be treating injuries,” Rothfield said on NRL360 last week.
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“I think if nothing happens it shows that, despite the appointment of Peter Parr, there is still no strong leadership at the Newcastle Knights and there is still no culture there.
“Because you have got to be taking action… they were out drinking while injured, the captain of the club.”
Earlier in the year, star prop David Klemmer was at the centre of another scandal, this time sparked by an on-field incident.
The former Blues enforcer allegedly refused to leave the field, verbally abusing trainer Hayden Knowles in another sign of a fractured club.
The club investigated the incident internally, Klemmer was dropped for a game and apologised to head coach Adam O’Brien.
Young guns Bradman Best and Enari Tuala were also dropped for being late to a team bus.
Off-field incidents do nothing to help and team’s morale and in turn effect overall performance, heaping pressure on Adam O’Brien.
The former Roosters assistant went as far to put a timeline on his own tenure during a sub-par season.
“I spoke to Adam O’Brien this morning, he asked me ‘how are the punters seeing it from outside’,” The Daily Telegraph’s Buzz Rothfield said on NRL360.
“I said I think everyone is happy that you are safe for the rest of the year, I then said I think you have six to eight weeks at the start of next year.
“He agreed, 100 per cent he agreed.”
What they need: A big shake-up.It is time for Kalyn Ponga to make the permanent switch into the halves.
Following Mitchell Pearce’s departure last summer, the Knights were always going to struggle to fill his shoes.
Newcastle signed Anthony Milford – who has now joined the Dolphins – and Adam Clune who became the first choice halves pairing.
But by switching Ponga into the halves next season, the Knights must strengthen their spine and hit the open market in search of a fullback.
Newcastle’s salary cap is tight with a large portion of space tied up in the forward pack.
“They don’t have a lot of salary cap space the Newcastle Knights,” Riccio said on SEN.
“It’s spent in their forward pack with the Saifiti boys (Daniel and Jacob), (Tyson) Frizell, (David) Klemmer, there’s a lot of money in that group, they’ve signed Jack Hetherington, Adam Elliott.”
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However, the men from the Hunter have been linked with a move for Manly’s Reuben Garrick.
If Newcastle can get their man it will be an inspired move, adding another star player to a potentially strong spine of Jayden Brailey, Kalyn Ponga and Adam Clune or Jake Clifford.
In what would be a huge boost for O’Brien’s side, the salary cap is set to increase to $10.5 million next season, potentially paving the way for a big off-season coup.
Garrick will be stuck behind Tom Trbojevic in Manly’s fullback pecking order when he returns from a shoulder injury.
But the 25-year-old has a desire to wear the No.1 jersey — which could see his salary receive a huge boost.
“This is brought about by the fact that the Knights are considering moving Kalyn Ponga to five-eighth,” Riccio said.
“By signing Reuben Garrick, he can play fullback, which he won’t get the opportunity to do at Manly because Tom Trbojevic is at fullback.
“It’s a big opportunity for Garrick and the Knights are certainly going down that path to see if they can get him up there.”
Garrick is free to negotiate with rivals come November 1, while a number of other options could fill the role.
Lachlan Miller, Nick Meaney and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow are all free to negotiate with rivals at the end of the year and the Knights could be tabling offers.
COMING: Adam Elliott (Raiders), Jack Hetherington (Bulldogs),
GOING: Mitchell Barnett (Warriors), Edrick Lee (Dolphins), Jirah Momoisea (Eels), Tex Hoy (Hull FC), Anthony Milford (Dolphins), Sauaso Sue (Hull KR), Pasami Saulo (Raiders)
UNSIGNED: Brayden Musgrove, Phoenix Crossland
SEASON REVIEWS:
BULLDOGS: Barrett sacking a double-edged sword as Dogs face big unknown
SEA EAGLES: How Manly’s season came unstuck — and why it’s not Des’ fault
BRONCOS: $1 million elephant in the room as finals disaster exposes divide
DRAGONS: $800k call holds key for Dragons as awkward issue hits tipping point
TIGERS: They hit a ‘diabolic’ low. Now Tigers ‘need to change everything’
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