WITH 12 premiership winners, eight Australian internationals and a handful of emerging prospects, the Newcastle Knights prepared for season 2004 with a roster that many rival coaches were entitled to envy. Yet before a ball was kicked, there remained an uneasy feeling that the downward trend of the past two seasons would continue.
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Those fears appeared unfounded after an emphatic start that yielded away wins against premiers Penrith (20- 14) and Melbourne (36-26), the latter after two tries on debut from pony-tailed winger George Carmont, from New Zealand via Raymond Terrace.
Just one week later, however, an unthinkable nightmare - the absolute worst-case scenario - became a reality for Newcastle. Spying a hole in Parramatta's defensive line, Andrew Johns attempted to step and accelerate through the gap. Instead his right foot slipped on the dewy Parramatta Stadium surface and his knee buckled.
After Knights doctor Peter McGeoch rushed onto the pitch to provide treatment, a crestfallen Johns delivered his own diagnosis: "It's gone. I've torn my cruciate." He was spot-on, and for the third successive year, the maestro would not finish the season.
Watching the game at home, NRL chief executive David Gallop immediately sent a text to Knights chairman Michael Hill: "Cruciate?" "Looks like it," Hill replied. Injuries occur every week in rugby league, but Gallop's concern was indicative of the impact this one would have, across all levels of the game.
"This is absolutely devastating for Joey, for the rest of the players and everyone else at the club," coach Hagan said at the post-match media briefing. "He is not going to come back and save us again, so we just need to get our heads around what we need to do."
Adding to Newcastle's anguish, rookie fullback David Seage also did his ACL in the same match, which Parramatta won 38-34. Johns and Seage joined Test forward Steve Simpson, who had broken his foot in round two, on the sidelines. Simpson at least would return four months later and make another three appearances. But by then, the Knights were making up the numbers.
After Johns's injury, they lost three of their next four games, then strung together wins against South Sydney, Canterbury and Brisbane - after a memorable Kurt Gidley field goal - to climb to fifth. Seven losses in their next eight games left the Knights with no chance of making the top eight
Nonetheless, there was plenty to play for in the final game of the year, at home to Wests Tigers - in particular a desire to provide four grand final heroes with an appropriate swansong. Ben Kennedy (Manly) and Timana Tahu (Parramatta) had signed with rival clubs, Matt Parsons had chosen to retire and head home to Werris Creek, and Robbie O'Davis had retirement forced upon him, after the Knights refused to offer the former Test fullback a new contract.
After five seasons in Newcastle, Kennedy had been hoping to re-sign but claimed that he was "pushed into a corner" by negotiations that left him feeling unappreciated. Newcastle offered him a reported $200,000 a season, about half the annual wage he had been receiving for the previous five years. He was close to accepting it but did not take much tempting to the northern beaches when Manly offered a more lucrative two-year deal.
Kennedy maintained he had been left with little option and was furious when the Newcastle Herald's chief sports writer Stewart Roach accused him of shedding "crocodile tears". "Bye bye, Ben," Roach wrote. "Been good to know you, but take the money and run." Newcastle's loss would prove to be Manly's gain. In a desperate bid to replace Kennedy, the Knights signed Melbourne forward Kirk Reynoldson, an interchange specialist best known for his bushranger-style beard.
Reynoldson did not come cheap. The Storm tried hard to retain him, before he eventually accepted a deal with Newcastle worth more than they offered Kennedy. It would subsequently, unwittingly, become perhaps the most scrutinised contract in the club's history. Moreover, the theory initially espoused by Knights insiders - that Kennedy's departure would free up funds and allow them to retain Tahu - was soon blown out of the water.
Tahu, who had established himself as a regular for both NSW and Australia, was seeking an appropriate upgrade. Named in the Anzac Test against New Zealand, he was the lowest-paid member of the Kangaroos squad. When Parramatta chased him, offering elite-level wages - reportedly $1.5 million over four seasons - as well as a chance to play exclusively in the centres, it was too good to refuse.
Parramatta coach Brian Smith said Tahu would be a welcome addition. "Players of Timana's class don't come along very often, and we're just rapt in the opportunity to get him at our place," he said. Tahu would leave Newcastle as the club's most prolific tryscorer, with 82 in 97 games.
O'Davis, second only to Tony Butterfield on the most-games list, was left heartbroken when Newcastle management rejected his pleas to play one more season. The fitness fanatic was adamant he had at least another year left in him. "I'm 31 years young and my body's feeling fine . . . my body's that good I could run a marathon tomorrow and there's not too many guys that leave the game like that,'' he said.
O'Davis was particularly disappointed that he would fall six games short of Butterfield's club-record 229 appearances. "Instead of the Robbie O'Davis Hill, it's going to be the Tony Butterfield Hill, unfortunately,'' he said, partly tongue-in-cheek.
Newcastle officials bunkered down as fans rallied behind the two-time grand final winner. "The realities of modern-day football are that we are governed by a salary cap and we have to make difficult decisions every year," Knights CEO Ken Conway said at the time. Yet in the space of 12 months, the Knights had parted company with internationals MacDougall, Kennedy, Tahu and O'Davis, as well as 2001 fellow premiership player Parsons. Joining the mini-exodus was rookie utility forward Michael Ennis, who, after 20 games for his home-town club, opted to sign for St George Illawarra.
At least the Knights would not be losing their No.1 man, Andrew Johns, who gave serious consideration mid-season to switching codes and trying his luck in rugby union. After months of speculation, he was telling those close to him: "I'm going to rugby - I'm going to announce it in the next couple of days."
Joey liked the prospect of playing five-eighth for the Wallabies, and going head-to-head with Jonny Wilkinson, England's Messiah at the 2003 World Cup. When it came to the crunch, however, he decided he needed to stay close to his four-year-old son Samuel and signed a two-year extension with the Knights. It also emerged, three years later, that Australian Rugby Union officials had conducted extensive due diligence on Johns. Their main concern was not so much whether he could return, aged 30, from a knee reconstruction, as rumours about his penchant for recreational drugs.
The "will he or won't he" headlines persisted for weeks, and cynics suggested it was merely a negotiating tactic to ensure Johns earned top dollar to stay in rugby league. If so, it was masterfully orchestrated. His new deal was reported to be worth $500,000 a year from the Knights, plus almost as much again in third-party deals with Channel Nine and News Limited.
On an emotional night for Newcastle's departing players and 20,439 fans at EnergyAustralia Stadium, the Knights won their last-round home encounter 26-16 and denied the Tigers a berth in the finals. That left them with 10 wins and 14 losses, and while they finished only two points behind eighth-placed Canberra, they may as well have been a world away.
It's gone. I've torn my cruciate.
ANDREW JOHNS
In amongst the adversity Newcastle had encountered, and the disappointment of missing the play-offs for the first time in eight years, inspirational hooker Buderus produced the finest season of his career.
A surprise choice as NSW skipper in the absence of Johns, he led the Blues to a 2-1 series win. He also played in six Tests for Australia, including two as captain, and became only the second Newcastle player to receive the coveted Dally M gold medal, awarded to the NRL's standout performer.
"It's a year that as a team we would rather forget," Buderus said after collecting his prize. "But winning this award does ease some of the pain of missing the finals."
Bedsy's Dally M was also a reminder that, while Johns was irreplaceable, he was not the only Newcastle player to qualify as one of rugby league's all-time greats.
Hard Yards: The Story of the Newcastle Knights. Available to purchase from theherald.mybigcommerce.com/books/ $19.95
