Source: Phil Rothfield and Rebecca Wilson, The Sunday Telegraph
A SECRET meeting tomorrow of Newcastle’s most powerful businessmen will put pressure on the Knights board to immediately sack coach Brian Smith.
The group, known as the White Knights and made up of the most influential movers and shakers in the Hunter, will gather over dinner to discuss the crisis that has torn apart one of the game’s proudest clubs.
The businessmen, including John Singleton and Jack Newton, are working on a secret plan to oust Smith as coach two years before his contract expires.
The White Knights are huge financial supporters of the club and have always carried great influence behind the scenes in the running of the outfit.
Source: SMH
ST HELENS centre Matt Gidley believes his former Newcastle teammate Danny Buderus is planning to join him in the Super League – possibly as early as next season.
Speaking in the build-up to Saturday’s Challenge Cup final, which pits his Saints side against French club Catalans at the new Wembley Stadium, Gidley said he was saddened by the plight of his former teammates, not least his brother Kurt, in their battle to avoid the wooden spoon.
With tensions peaking and results troughing in the Hunter, Gidley suggested that Buderus, with whom he remains in close contact, might seek a move to the UK in the coming months, even though the Blues hooker has another season remaining on his Newcastle contract.
"Danny is a similar age to me, and he has always said that playing in the Super League is something he would consider if the timing was right," Gidley told the Herald. "I’m not sure what the situation is with his contract and everything, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was looking over here.
"It sounds like there is a fair bit of disharmony there at the moment. It is sad to hear, because the club is still close to my heart. For the sake of everyone there, I hope they can string a few wins together and avoid the wooden spoon.
Source: Josh Massoud, The Daily Telegraph
THIS is the street poll the Newcastle Knights – and the NRL – should fear.
In a damning appraisal of the Kirk Reynoldson controversy, Novocastrians yesterday turned on their beloved Knights in an almost unequivocal vote of no-confidence to coach Brian Smith’s player clean-out.
The deteriorating relationship between a host of departing local juniors and club hierarchy was reflected on Hunter Street.
A Daily Telegraph poll in Hunter Street mall found the Reynoldson drama has deeply disaffected this blue collar community.
Angry that a fellow worker’s rights appear to have been unfairly dealt with, Novacastrians are highlighting the issue as the single biggest reason why rusted-on supporters are now realising there is a sporting world outside the Knights.
"The Jets are taking over," said 33-year-old George Saforis in reference to the rise of the town’s A-League franchise.
Frighteningly for Newcastle – and the NRL – the figures support Mr Saforis’s rhetoric.
Source: AAP, The Age
Newcastle senior executive officer Steve Burraston has slammed Kirk Reynoldson and his management for an "orchestrated campaign" to destabilise the struggling NRL club.
Burraston received a letter from Reynoldson’s lawyer Tom Sullivan on Monday threatening legal action if the 28-year-old lock did not have the fourth year option on his contract fulfilled.
Reynoldson needs one more NRL game to automatically trigger a $196,000 deal next year, but coach Brian Smith has told him he is unwanted in 2008 and has not selected him to play again this Friday.
Burraston fully supports Smith in not selecting Reynoldson and is outraged the matter is being played out in the media.
The Knights boss slammed Reynoldson’s manager Les Ross for not making any effort to talk to the club.
"I’ve got no question it’s probably an orchestrated campaign to put pressure on the club to cause unrest and probably force us into a position where we want to fold and have the thing go away," said Burraston.
"I can’t understand why people wouldn’t come and sit at the table and try to negotiate a deal or just to completely ignore the deals we do put on the table.
Source: Dean Ritchie, Daily Telegraph
NEWCASTLE’S horror season worsened last night with revelations captain Danny Buderus is poised to cut short his Knights contract and that rival clubs have begun circling star forward Steve Simpson.
The two Knights champions have been caught up in the current Newcastle crisis of sinking morale, with Buderus publicly questioning coach Brian Smith’s methods and Simpson angry at the club’s treatment of Kirk Reynoldson.
Buderus is under contract until the end of next season with an option for 2009.
But it now seems certain Buderus will quit Newcastle at the end of next season and finish his stellar career in England.
Source: Barry Toohey, Daily Telegraph
KIRK Reynoldson – the Newcastle Knights forward whose future at the club hinges on him playing one more NRL game this season – was yesterday dumped from the side to meet Penrith on Sunday.
Reynoldson must play 15 top-grade games to activate a $200,000 contract with the Knights for 2008 and the uncertainty over his playing future over the past few weeks was the catalyst that prompted captain Danny Buderus to go public last week with his concerns over the direction of the club under coach Brian Smith.
Reynoldson played game number 14 off the bench in the club’s 50-16 loss to Manly last Friday night.
He was one of three players axed for the Penrith game.
In an unprecedented move, coach Smith yesterday took his selected team to the Knights board for approval – knowing that Reynoldson’s exclusion would cause further howls of protest among players and supporters.
Source: David Riccio, Daily Telegraph
THE final siren had barley sounded last Friday night before embattled Knights players began counting down the days to next week’s must-win clash with last-placed Penrith.
The Sunday afternoon encounter is set to decide who’ll be handed the dreaded wooden spoon with worried Newcastle players admitting that another loss would slip the club into further turmoil.
The proud outfit is now in danger of earning the timber for the second time in three years, after finishing last in 2005.
Knights players told The Sunday Telegraph their mission was to beat Penrith and avoid the spoon at all costs.
Forward Mitchell Sargent revealed: "Our motto all year has been sticking together. That won’t change as far as I’m concerned.
"These next two games are really crucial for us. We’ll regroup on Tuesday and then just work as a team to turn this around.”
Teammate Zeb Taia said: "It’s our number one goal, to avoid the spoon. You don’t feel good after a week like that. But we’ll get on with it and hopefully get at least two wins.”
Skipper Steve Simpson said next week against Penrith was crucial.
Source: Brent Read and Stuart Honeysett, The Australian
NEWCASTLE stalwart Matthew Johns yesterday implored the club to resolve its problems quickly as the man at the centre of the storm, coach Brian Smith, criticised captain Danny Buderus for airing the Knights’ dirty laundry in public.
Johns, a member of the club’s 1997 premiership-winning side, believes officials underestimated the camaraderie among the playing group when they began their clean-out under Smith.
The issue came to a head this week when Buderus went public with claims players were upset over the decision to axe several players, chiefly Clint Newton, Josh Perry and Adam Woolnough.
Smith yesterday said he was merely carrying out the mandate given to him when he was appointed late last year.
Source:Barry Toohey, Daily Telegraph
THE rocky relationship between Newcastle coach Brian Smith and senior players has reached breaking point as the club battles to avoid the wooden spoon.
Knights captain Danny Buderus admitted for the first time yesterday that Smith’s decision to cut a swathe through the playing ranks for next season had caused widespread dissent and left morale at the club at an all-time low.
Buderus described the wholesale changes – which have seen long-serving players such as Adam Woolnough, Clint Newton, Josh Perry and a host of others shown the door – as "too much, too soon".
The latest moves to try to unload back rower Kirk Reynoldson, two games shy of activating a retention clause in his $200,000 contract for next season, was the "straw that broke the camel’s back", Buderus said.
Smith admitted last night that he was not surprised at the player unrest because he knew it was coming.
Source: Craig Hamilton, ABC Online
Knights coach Brian Smith says he enjoyed watching the Knights 20-4 loss to St George at home on Friday night, despite a lack of possession.
"At half time I think the opposition had 116 plays, and we’d had 64, so to have conceded two tries and to be down 10 nil at that stage, I think it showed there was resolution about our defence tonight that I enjoyed watching," he said.
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