{"id":261598,"date":"2025-11-04T08:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261598\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T08:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:52:11","slug":"knights-fans-feared-theyd-signed-a-13m-dud-dylan-browns-test-form-put-that-to-rest-says-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261598\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights fans feared they\u2019d signed a $13m dud. Dylan Brown\u2019s Test form put that to rest, says coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s when the coach will start fashioning a new-look spine. As well as Brown, the Knights have also signed Sandon Smith from Sydney Roosters, to complement incumbents Kalyn Ponga, Fletcher Sharpe and Phoenix Crossland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to work that out,\u201d Holbrook said. \u201cObviously it\u2019s the most talked-about thing up here, the spine, and where everyone plays. But to be honest, I\u2019ve just got to get everyone back to training. I\u2019m excited about fitting them all in.<\/p>\n

\"Kalyn<\/p>\n

Kalyn Ponga and Fletcher Sharpe.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt they\u2019re all going to fit in \u2026 it\u2019s going to be a few weeks until we get them all back, but we\u2019ll work it all out over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharpe, the 21-year-old utility back, has resumed training after suffering a lacerated kidney that restricted him to just 14 games last season.<\/p>\n

He is expected to partner Brown in the halves next season and is excited about what the Kiwi international can offer the wooden spooners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a class player, someone that can create a lot of things out of nothing, which is exciting,\u201d Sharpe said.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/p>\n

Justin Holbrook\u2019s first crusade with the Knights has kicked off.Credit: NRL Photos<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always good to work with high-class players like that. He\u2019s been killing it over there for New Zealand. So that\u2019s even more exciting for him to get back. I\u2019ll work alongside him and see how we can combine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite speculation last season that Ponga was unsettled at Newcastle and considering the option of playing rugby union overseas<\/a>, Holbrook said he had no plans to take the captaincy off the 2023 Dally M medallist.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t considered it any different,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019ll be the captain. I haven\u2019t seen any reason why not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponga missed the last 10 games of 2025 after suffering a foot injury that required surgery, but he has been training throughout his off-season, as have all of Newcastle\u2019s senior players.<\/p>\n

Holbrook was confident Newcastle\u2019s revamped spine can provide the team with multiple attacking outlets, rather than relying so heavily on Ponga.<\/p>\n

\u201cKalyn\u2019s obviously front and centre of this football side, absolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a number of key guys that we spoke about this morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a lot of pressure off him and that\u2019s what\u2019s needed. It\u2019s too much on one person and it\u2019s not needed. It\u2019s a team game.\u201d<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That\u2019s when the coach will start fashioning a new-look spine. As well as Brown, the Knights have also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-261598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}