![\"Dream](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4762bf3f9e8be9c8234c8d9b4574e81eceb3cdcfab497fb3d3bb736ee2e53faf.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019re giant shoes to fill, and I only have size nine feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what he does intend to do showcase Graham\u2019s lessons, and inject the same hard-nosed edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe carries a real aura about him. I\u2019ve not played with any players who had a similar presence \u2013 I wanted to impress him, I didn\u2019t want to let him down,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dream team: James Graham and Sam Burgess embrace after an NRL game.Credit: NRL<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt almost responsible to him to put a performance in and deliver. I don\u2019t carry myself anywhere near as high a regard as those two players \u2026 but I\u2019m a really proud Cumbrian.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI can see now how the Super League is perceived, and I want to fly the flag for the Super League and do myself proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowles does not see his two-year contract as a flash in the pan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf things go well I could see myself staying longer,\u201d he said, \u201cbut there are challenges being a long way from family too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowles had grown up in the St Helens pathways, arriving as a young teenager and playing 246 games for the club \u2013 including three-straight Super League titles under then coach, and now Dolphins honcho, Kristian Woolf.<\/p>\n
But the 29-year-old, who had his second child in early 2025, sensed he needed to get outside his comfort zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew at the age I\u2019m at, this would be my last opportunity to come out. I didn\u2019t want to finish my career and have any regrets of missed opportunities,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got really comfortable with where I was, so I wanted to challenge myself again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already Knowles has needed to adjust to the speed of the NRL \u2013 missing six tackles in his first trial against the Titans, before making 33 for just two misses while running for 84 metres against the Warriors.<\/p>\n
In Woolf, he feels he is playing for a coach who best understands him \u201cas a person and player, and got the best out of me\u201d to bring that adjustment to life.<\/p>\n
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But he reveals there was more to his decision that Woolf\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n
Max Plath (knee) and Daniel Saifiti (shoulder) remain sidelined until at least round four, but the returns of Thomas Flegler and Tom Gilbert make for a representative-quality engine room.<\/p>\n
While the Dolphins are yet to feature in finals football, Knowles sees the potential at Redcliffe, while admitting a move to Sydney was never on his radar given his \u201ccountry boy\u201d background living in the north of England.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to come to a team that I felt had ambitions, aspirations and potential to be playing in the big games at the end of the season,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not coming over here for a holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowles envisions a first year in Australia to be a big one \u2013 a deep finals run with the Dolphins followed by World Cup glory with England.<\/p>\n
![\"Morgan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a5f537719a0c87778688503a143575f9f99b9d2494fc3b88d91e3b3be9c07328.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Morgan Knowles pictured during Dolphins training.Credit: Dolphins Media<\/p>\n
On the back of the Kangaroos 3-0 Ashes whitewash last year, England coach Shaun Wane stepped down from his tenure, leaving the country\u2019s Rugby Football League hunting a successor with just eight months remaining until the showcase begins.<\/p>\n
Knowles admits the series was ultimately a disappointment, lamenting his side\u2019s inability to consistently match it with their Australian rivals. But he insists that letdown will not prove their World Cup demise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be a new coach with new ideas,\u201d Knowles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played the Aussies now, it was the first time I had, and I think there were maybe two or three players who had played against Australia in that team. In the long run, we\u2019ll be better for that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re giant shoes to fill, and I only have size nine feet.\u201d But what he does intend to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-511606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511606","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=511606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}