They reckon you need to earn a seat at the table to effectively influence how you are treated.
And clearly, after a decade of mediocrity, the Knights aren't in a position of strength to be demanding a whole lot from the NRL. But it doesn't mean you can't kick and scream a little when you're not happy with your treatment.
On first glance a few weeks ago when it was released, the Knights' draw seemed pretty reasonable. For one thing, there were more televised free-to-air games than is the norm, which is always a good thing for sponsors.
But a closer look at the detail reveals just how big a task the players and coaching staff face during the first half of the season if they are to end their finals' drought.
Consider this: In the next six weeks leading into round 10, five of their six games, starting with the Canberra Raiders tomorrow, will be against sides who made the play-offs last season.
The only one that isn't is round 7, when the Knights have to fly to Townsville on the day of the match to take on the Cowboys.
That's challenging in itself. But the biggest mountain they have to climb is with regards to the travel.
Just in road trips alone to and from games, remembering their 'home ground' until round 10 is Gosford's Central Coast Stadium, we estimate the team will be forced to spend 22.5 hours on a bus and travel around 1520 kms, all on the same day as they play. That doesn't take into account their trip to Townsville.
Just for good measure after consecutive weeks of six hour trips to and from Campbelltown Stadium, the Knights face Melbourne in Gosford in round 5 next Saturday before a five day turnaround into the Broncos at the same venue.
Now compare that to Penrith, who don't have to leave Western Sydney at all to play anyone during this seven week block or the Parramatta Eels, who flew to Brisbane last weekend but have the next five games straight on their home ground at Bankwest Stadium before a trip to Gosford to take on the Knights in round nine.
Unlike the Raiders who blew up and then successfully lobbied the NRL so they could charter flights to Sydney for all their 'home games' at Campbelltown to save the two and a bit hours of bus travel, the Knights are copping their treatment on the chin.
No doubt coach Adam O'Brien doesn't want to be seen to be giving his players a ready-made excuse by complaining but whichever way you look at it, is the scheduling even close to being fair and equitable? Hardly.
Down but not out
The media discussion earlier this week about whether Knights skipper Mitchell Pearce should be stood down and not allowed to play against the Raiders tomorrow following his concussion against the Panthers because it's a "bad look" for the game if he does is laughable.
Have we now decided to judge how severe a concussion is and when a player should play again simply by how bad it looks on video? Forget the experts and the strict medical protocols they have put in place under the direction of the NRL to protect the welfare of the player. Instead, let's just take an uneducated guess after looking at some footage.
For the record, Pearce had passed all the protocols leading into today's captain's run and appears a certain starter at Campbelltown Stadium.
Members' choice
Knights members have been offered a sweetener if they decide to pledge their 2020 fees to the club rather then seek an immediate refund following the impact of COVID-19 on this season's competition.
The club contacted all its members via email on Thursday to spell out the options.
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The pledge sweetener includes priority stadium access at no cost if games return to McDonald Jones Stadium in front of crowds this season, a commemorative U-KNIGHTED t-shirt, access to a pledge-only event with the Knights team, 20 percent off next year's membership and 20 percent off on-line club merchandise from the Knights shop.
Members can also opt to put their 2020 fees towards membership for next season or simply decide to put in and receive a refund.
Penny drops for Brodie
The knock on young backrower Brodie Jones over the past few seasons hasn't been about a lack of ability or promise but whether he had the desire and drive to make the most of his talents.
For a while there, it didn't appear like he had.
It's easy to forget that it was only this time 12 months ago, Jones was struggling so much for form and confidence in the Knights' NSW Cup squad, he was sent back to junior club Cessnock for a week and played a handful of minutes off the bench for the Goannas in a 20-18 win over Macquarie at Toronto in the local competition.
It would have been a sobering experience to be recognised as part of the club's top 30 squad but not be regarded in the best 34 players that weekend. At that point, the odds of him landing another contract with the Knights for this season appeared to be dwindling. He ended up signing a modest one year extension which was hardly a massive show of confidence from the club.
It was more an 'okay, we'll give you one more shot' type of deal. Which makes his wonderful debut off the bench for Adam O'Brien's side against Penrith last Sunday at Campbelltown such a real success story. We're guessing the penny dropped for the 22-year-old in regards to working out what it's going to take to reach the big time at some stage during a tough pre-season under O'Brien's take-no-prisoners coaching philosophy.
After getting just 24 hours notice to process the fact he was debuting after Lachlan Fitzgibbon's captain's run injury, he was thrown into the Penrith game early and ended up making 51 tackles in 82 minutes and 65 metres from 6 hit-ups.
Apart from an early miss on Viliame Kikau when he stormed over to score from close range in the first half, Jones did a great job of containing the Panthers' powerhouse with the help of Sione Mata'utia on the right edge. All up, he missed just three tackles.
But now comes the hard part. An even greater test.
How will Jones and, for that matter, the rest of the leg-weary Knights forward pack aim up again tomorrow against a big, mobile Canberra Raiders engine room that dominated Melbourne in Melbourne last weekend?
At this level, the challenges just keep coming.
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