Knights coach Adam O'Brien has turned to a former Samoan international with a reputation for being an enforcer to add further steel to Newcastle's forward pack next season.
Sauaso Sue, an experienced eight season campaigner who has had previous stints with Wests Tigers and the Bulldogs, is set to link with the Knights for the next two years to fill the void following the early retirement of Tim Glasby.
The 28-year-old prop has played a total of 10 Tests for Samoa and featured in 142 NRL games, with his signing coming just 24 hours after the club secured local junior Josh King on a new one year extension.
Just as he believes King can take his game to a new level under the coaching of O'Brien over the next 12 months, Knights head of recruitment Clint Zammit claims Sue will also benefit from O'Brien's mentoring.
"His attitude is great, he's got a bit of a point to prove and he'll relish the added responsibility of helping in the leadership department under Adam," Zammit told the Newcastle Herald.
"He's played plenty of Tests for Samoa and everyone gives him a wrap for being a real leader among the Polynesian players and I'm sure he can play a leadership role at our club with the sort of experience he's got.
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"I know he's super excited about the chance he's got and he's keen to rip in and I really think under Adam, we can get him to another level where he'll be playing his best footy with us."
Zammit believes Sue ticks all the boxes when it comes to providing the right balance in the club's forward pack.
"We thought we needed a different body shape to what we already have and another experienced forward," he said. "We were also looking to add a bit more aggression to our pack to balance it out a little more and he fits that bill perfectly. He'll mix it with anybody.
"The big thing though was experience. We've got some really good young middles coming through and we just thought it was important at this stage to add some experience there in the forwards given we have lost the likes of Glasby and [Aidan] Guerra.
"It's all about balance. We've got a lot of taller blokes in Klem [David Klemmer] and the two Safs [Daniel and Jacob Saifiti] and a lot of young kids and he was just the right age and the right sort of player for our footy team."
