Dolphins recruit Morgan Knowles has slammed suggestions England’s Super League competition was an inferior product to the NRL, as he issued a warning to the Brisbane Broncos ahead of the World Club Challenge.
Arriving at Redcliffe to reunite with his former St Helens coach Kristian Woolf, Knowles admits he touches down with a point a prove, having long felt the Super League had been looked down on abroad.
Knowles won three-straight premierships under Woolf, with the 29-year-old lock managing 246 caps before hunting “a new challenge”. He is no guarantee to walk into the Dolphins’ starting side – Tom Gilbert, Max Plath, Thomas Flegler and Daniel Saifiti are all set to make their injury comebacks early in the season.
Morgan Knowles pictured during Dolphins training.Credit: Dolphins Media
England greats Sam Burgess and James Graham both became bona fide NRL stars upon relocating to Australia, while Morgan Smithies has become a mainstay of the Canberra Raiders’ forward pack.
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While hopeful of achieving “even a quarter” of what those men have done, Knowles was determined to eradicate beliefs that the Super League failed to produce the same calibre of talent – insinuations which only intensified after the Kangaroos produced a 3-0 Ashes whitewash late last year.
But the “proud Cumbrian” issued a warning to the Broncos ahead of their clash with Hull Kingston Rovers on February 20, believing the latter had the ability to shock the NRL champions as he and St Helens did against the Penrith Panthers in 2023.
“Hull KR, if they’re playing their best, they’re a red-hot chance. Super League gets put down a fair bit, and that definitely annoys us England blokes over there,” Knowles said.
“It was the same back in ’23 when I came over with St Helens, everyone was asking why I’m in Australia, and when I said we’re playing Penrith they would laugh and say it was going to be a cricket score. But we were quietly confident in ourselves.