{"id":588129,"date":"2026-04-06T01:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588129\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:27:15","slug":"the-nrls-biggest-selection-headache-who-is-in-and-who-is-out-for-the-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/588129\/","title":{"rendered":"The NRL’s biggest selection headache: Who is in, and who is out, for the Knights?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Newcastle Knights<\/a> are about to face the NRL’s biggest selection question.<\/p>\n

That was a statement that was entirely possible in the pre-season, but it felt like for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

Too many cooks in the kitchen, and a sense of uncertainty. That has been the general theme at the Knights in recent years, with Adam O’Brien<\/a> holding a rotating door policy in the halves.<\/p>\n

Justin Holbrook<\/a> taking over the club this year brought with him a sense of fresh air, and the signing of Dylan Brown<\/a> from the Parramatta Eels<\/a>, as well as Sandon Smith<\/a> from the Sydney Roosters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, it looks as if things were about to repeat. With no way to fullback for Fletcher Sharpe<\/a> thanks to Kalyn Ponga<\/a> being there, someone was going to miss out.<\/p>\n

Sandon Smith<\/a> started the year from the bench, then Sharpe injured himself and he played a blinder. Then Dylan Brown<\/a> injured himself, and since then, Sharpe and Smith have had the halves under lockdown for the Knights.<\/p>\n

Ponga being out too has seen Fletcher Hunt<\/a> thrive at the back, proving exactly how good he is going to be down the track and maybe, just maybe, indicating why the Knights shouldn’t be fighting with seven figures and then some to retain Ponga once his contract expires.<\/p>\n

\"NEWCASTLE,<\/p>\n

What is clear is that Sharpe won’t be needed at fullback, which means Holbrook is going to be back to square one when Dylan Brown<\/a> returns, potentially as early as next week.<\/p>\n

The Knights, given their form, don’t need to rush Brown back – that’s for certain.<\/p>\n

But having the New Zealand<\/a> international who you have made the highest-paid player in the game sit on the sidelines for a second longer than he has to is simply bad business.<\/p>\n

So if Brown is fit, he will be back next weekend for a road trip to Campbelltown where the Knights clash with the Wests Tigers<\/a> on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

But what on Earth do you do with the rest of the spine if you’re Justin Holbrook<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Sandon Smith<\/a> is clearly the best halfback in the team and needs to play seven, but you can’t play Fletcher Sharpe<\/a> from the bench. He is far too good for that.<\/p>\n

Dylan Brown<\/a> taking the six means you could shuffle Sharpe into the outside backs, but it’s hard to find anyone there who deserves to be dropped there, either.<\/p>\n

In Sunday’s clash with the Raiders, both wingers Greg Marzhew<\/a> and Dominic Young<\/a> went over for doubles, with Marzhew running for 242 metres, and Young 194 metres.<\/p>\n

Hardly form that warrants either of them being usurped by Sharpe.<\/p>\n

Dane Gagai<\/a> in the centres had 147 metres and a pair of try assists in the game against Canberra, and while Bradman Best<\/a> was the quietest of the back five after suffering an injury, and maybe if he is absent this whole situation works itself out.<\/p>\n

Even then, would you play Sharpe at centre?<\/p>\n

You could potentially create room in the halves by sending Smith to hooker, but that lands you back at square one – with two five-eighths in the halves and Phoenix Crossland<\/a>, who has played through a broken nose already this year for his team, looking in from the outside.<\/p>\n

That means, and it’s a good headache to have rather than a bad one for Holbrook given his side’s unexpected form, that Sharpe may be the guy to make way.<\/p>\n

That, given his incredibly high potential, is a sentence no one would have thought possible in the pre-season, but the rising star playing from the bench in the next couple of weeks might just be the reality.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Holbrook certainly, at four and one, has less headaches than other coaches like Ricky Stuart<\/a> or Shane Flanagan<\/a>, but this one will keep him up at night in the coming week.<\/p>\n

The NRL’s biggest headache for the right reasons at a high-flying Knights.<\/p>\n

Who saw that one coming?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Newcastle Knights are about to face the NRL’s biggest selection question. That was a statement that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-588129","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\/588129","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=588129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}