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Darren Mooney - the Newcastle Knights' former head of football who worked for years alongside coach Nathan Brown - is a somewhat enigmatic figure in the corridors of Knights HQ, but he is the person responsible for much of the current Knights identity. Our head of sport, Robert Dillon, perfectly captured Mooney's character in his 2018 profile as Mooney departed the Knights for Tennis NSW.
"Darren Mooney's understated presence at the Knights for the past three seasons is best evidenced by the Newcastle Herald's archives, which include only one photo of him, snapped six years ago, at his previous club, Cronulla.
"In other words, during his entire Newcastle tenure, for whatever reason we did not take a single picture of the club's head of football.
"In contrast, hundreds of images of Knights coach Nathan Brown are in our system for easy reference.
"He might have worked hand-in-glove with Brown, but he was certainly no limelight seeker. Popular with players and staff alike, he got his job done with a minimum of fuss or fanfare.
"And a crucial job it was, too.
"Mooney was responsible for negotiating the deals that brought the likes of Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga, Connor Watson, Herman Ese'ese, Aidan Guerra and Slade Griffin" to the Newcastle Knights.
In episode 17 of Toohey's News, Mooney looks back on his tenure at the Newcastle, revealing to host Barry Toohey a new perspective on the now infamous Knights rebuild era.
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Toohey will bring a new episode to all your favourite podcasting apps every week, complementing his premium and exclusive Knights reporting and analysis in the pages of the Newcastle Herald.
Episode 18 of Toohey's News will publish next week.
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