Liam Knight off to the Rabbitohs

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders forward Liam Knight linked to South Sydney Rabbitohs

South Sydney Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold has lashed out at Wayne Bennett, after a planned coaching swap deal for 2019 came undone on Friday.

The Sunday Telegraph obtained an email Seibold wrote to Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly, complaining he'd twice been told he'd be moving to Brisbane immediately - and then twice it would not be happening.

It revealed Bennett has been contacting Rabbitohs players about his plans for next year and that Seibold had been frozen out of decisions at South Sydney, while Bennett had been consulted.

Of most interest to Raiders fans, Seibold's email revealed a possible move for Green Machine forward Liam Knight to the Rabbitohs. The email says:

"Potential signing of Liam Knight from the Canberra Raiders - Ben Rogers replied that Peter Mullholland had contacted himself and Wayne Bennett to discuss the possible signing of Liam Knight for 2019. Liam has not been signed but Wayne was consulted on the possibility of his recruitment. "

Seibold notes in the email that the Rabbitohs' recruitment decisions have been put on hold.

[julian87]

Why on earth would we be letting him go? He’s a **** lot better than JJ Felise

[edwahu]

It's pretty obvious he isn't seen as a regular first grader and I would think he personally would much rather be in Sydney.

[Roger Kenworthy]

Doesn't offer the ball playing you need out of a prop. Ricky sees his ball playing skills more at the level of a half.

[-GD-]

I think his gf lives in Sydney so maybe him wanting to go back there.

[gerg]

I wonder whether something happened after that Tigers game. It was his best game for us and seemed on the outer after that game. Wasn't he dropped after that particular game? Something about having a few areas of his game to work on? Seemed like complete crap at the time.

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[Green eyed Mick]

Knight might have been offered to free up cap space for a signing that didn't eventuate or is still in negotiation.

[yurithe1]

Regardless, we're active in the forwards market when what we need is a healthy half or 5/8th.

[RTW]

He should leave, Stuart barely gave him a run despite the two blokes who had signed elsewhere phoning it in week after week.




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[edwahu]

I'm not really fussed about him going but why did we sign him in the first place? Had Mulholland seen him play? It's a bit like the Gubb signing.

Also shouldn't it be the manager shopping the player? I'd think if Knight was unaware this could be a damaging leak.

[BadnMean]

This bloke showed more in 10 minutes v the Tigers than Gubb could dream of doing.

I would not be surprised at all if Knight turns out to be a regular FG bench prop somewhere. I'd say that's even money with him being shown to be Mounties level only. Like others have said, it's just mystifying he didn't get a proper go here. If he's got a sniff of FG somewhere he should go because Ricky has made it pretty clear he doesn't believe in him.

[-PJ-]

I've just rang Liam.

He said he can't afford a house in Sydney.

He's staying..

[edwahu]

Interesting to read in the article that Johnston was potentially agreeing to a deal elsewhere by the end of the week.

[Dusty]

First he heard of it was today apparently


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[nachopants]

Interesting to read in the article that Johnston was potentially agreeing to a deal elsewhere by the end of the week.

Yep, I've read we're in the mix there too

[Green eyed Mick]

Johnston would be better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

[gangrenous]

Meh.

You never know what’s going on contract-wise or personal-wise with these things. Not worth getting in a lather over losing a player of Knight’s caliber.

Good luck to him. Hope he has a great first grade career.

[kiwi raider]

We’ve already got big money tied up in Croker, BJ, Rapana, Cotric and Wighton, Johnston would help short term but long term it would be a terrible move for our salary cap and the balance of our squad to tie more cash up in a highish profile outside back

[Botman]

Think he's a player we should have seen a lot more of, ill be disappointed to see him go because i think he's got some talent and we need it in the middle. But he's certain not someone at this stage you'd lose sleep over.

Still Stuart has no interest in him so he should be doing what he can to get out to another club where opportunity may knock. Best of luck to him, i hope he makes us regret it.

[MrPosh]

Perhaps TPJ isn't going to South's after all, but the club he's going to needs to free up a space and Souths need another body in the pack.

[Seiffert82]

Yep, Knight to Souths, TPJ to Canberra and who gives a toss to Brisbane.

[yeh raiders]

Think he's a player we should have seen a lot more of, ill be disappointed to see him go because i think he's got some talent and we need it in the middle. But he's certain not someone at this stage you'd lose sleep over.

Still Stuart has no interest in him so he should be doing what he can to get out to another club where opportunity may knock. Best of luck to him, i hope he makes us regret it.

I agree. I wonder if it’ll be Paul Vaughan all over again...

[edwahu]

Vaughan was our already close to our best player for the 3 years before he got the boot, I don't think Knight has near that ability.

[Wiki Special]

Think he's a player we should have seen a lot more of, ill be disappointed to see him go because i think he's got some talent and we need it in the middle. But he's certain not someone at this stage you'd lose sleep over.

Still Stuart has no interest in him so he should be doing what he can to get out to another club where opportunity may knock. Best of luck to him, i hope he makes us regret it.

I agree. I wonder if it’ll be Paul Vaughan all over again...

I have never heard the rumours as to why the club moved Vaughan on but he had an 'X Factor' about him from his debut. Liam Knight may carve out an NRL career somewhere, but he is not Paul Vaughan.

In saying that, I don't think we are in a position to move him on without a replacement in mind. He has been solid in very limited opportunities.

[Botman]

Think he's a player we should have seen a lot more of, ill be disappointed to see him go because i think he's got some talent and we need it in the middle. But he's certain not someone at this stage you'd lose sleep over.

Still Stuart has no interest in him so he should be doing what he can to get out to another club where opportunity may knock. Best of luck to him, i hope he makes us regret it.

I agree. I wonder if it’ll be Paul Vaughan all over again...

I very much doubt that
Vaughan is a rep player, Knight... probably not. But it wouldnt shock me if he turns out to be a pretty solid NRL middle... which y'know, we could use.

[Coastalraider]

Given Ricky's traditional habit of showing no faith in / or giving opportunity to fringe up and coming forwards, it really is mind boggling that he keeps on recruiting fringe forwards.....

[dubby]

I think there's probably stuff we don't know about re: Knight. To simply assume it's "a lack of faith" or whatever is simply wrong.

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[Botman]

The guy played about 10 games for us, and must have averaged about 5 minutes per game.
He sat in games where our forwards were getting towelled up late... if there was stuff we dont know about as you suggest, why even pick him in FG?
Nothing about what you said makes any sense whatsoever

[Coastalraider]

Agree with Pigman, but it was more of a comment on Rickys habits over a longer period of time.

Joel Edwards, Mark Nicholls, Mitch Barnett, Jeff Lima, TPJ, Royce Hunt, Makahesi Makatoa, Scott Sorenson, Charlie Gubb, Jack Murchie... its a decent list of fringe players in a similar situation to Knight.

Meanwhile Luke Bateman gets his opportunities, and we have gone and signed another fringe player in Felise.

[edwahu]

The guy played about 10 games for us, and must have averaged about 5 minutes per game.
He sat in games where our forwards were getting towelled up late... if there was stuff we dont know about as you suggest, why even pick him in FG?
Nothing about what you said makes any sense whatsoever

Making sense isn't a pre-requisite for Ricky's team selections.

[dubby]

The guy played about 10 games for us, and must have averaged about 5 minutes per game.
He sat in games where our forwards were getting towelled up late... if there was stuff we dont know about as you suggest, why even pick him in FG?
Nothing about what you said makes any sense whatsoever

5 minutes a game?

https://www.raiders.com.au/teams/telstr ... am-knight/

You're way off. More like 20 minutes per game.

As for "forwards getting towelled up", again that's your thwarted view. We won 5, lost 5 in the games he played.

Why pick him? Heck if I know.



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[Roger Kenworthy]

Agree with Pigman, but it was more of a comment on Rickys habits over a longer period of time.

Joel Edwards, Mark Nicholls, Mitch Barnett, Jeff Lima, TPJ, Royce Hunt, Makahesi Makatoa, Scott Sorenson, Charlie Gubb, Jack Murchie... its a decent list of fringe players in a similar situation to Knight.

Meanwhile Luke Bateman gets his opportunities, and we have gone and signed another fringe player in Felise.

We also just re-signed Dunamis Lui for three years when there would appear to be no reason not to do a 1 or 2-year deal. Nobody would be chasing him.

[Coastalraider]

Agree with Pigman, but it was more of a comment on Rickys habits over a longer period of time.

Joel Edwards, Mark Nicholls, Mitch Barnett, Jeff Lima, TPJ, Royce Hunt, Makahesi Makatoa, Scott Sorenson, Charlie Gubb, Jack Murchie... its a decent list of fringe players in a similar situation to Knight.

Meanwhile Luke Bateman gets his opportunities, and we have gone and signed another fringe player in Felise.

We also just re-signed Dunamis Lui for three years when there would appear to be no reason not to do a 1 or 2-year deal. Nobody would be chasing him.

Lui is an interesting case - I fully agree a 3 year deal is ridiculous. But he is kind of the perfect example of what any of those other players could become with the opportunity. He is seriously no frills. The best thing you could say about Lui is he is 'solid'. I thought that Knight could fill the same role, with more potential upside, and less salary that Lui. That would be smart cap management. 3 years for a fringe journeyman is stupid.

[dubby]

Ed, Lui turned down bigger offers to stay with us. Off memory he had 3 offers.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.smh ... 4zw5s.html

Edit - "multiple offers"

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[Roger Kenworthy]

Ed, Lui turned down bigger offers to stay with us. Off memory he had 3 offers.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.smh ... 4zw5s.html

Edit - "multiple offers"

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Hmm - I'm a bit suspicious of those offers. Maybe I don't watch Lui enough and aren't giving him enough credit - but I agree with Coastal I saw much more potential with Knight.