nib Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown said the confirmation Wests will acquire 100 per cent of the share capital of the Club is not only great news for the Knights but for the Newcastle community.
“It gives us huge credibility and the long-term future of the Club is in the best possible hands,” Brown stated.
“Now we have the capability to build a football club that the town can be proud of.
“Being with Wests, we will have a lot of financial stability and no longer will player managers have that fear of whether it is going to be okay at Newcastle.”
The Knights coach says it’s also a plus for retaining talented local juniors.
“We will have the ability to be able to keep more juniors because Wests are huge supporters of the local juniors,” commented Brown.
“They have made that quite clear and the fact we’ll be able to help keep more of them is a bonus for us.
“Also, the Centre of Excellence that may come along with it and the ability for our younger players to work in an environment like that and to have something like that at their front door.
“Kids that grow up in Newcastle can start a semi-professional career with such a great facility and other clubs will want to take them away but they’ll have to offer them a lot.
“The reasons for people to leave will be less.”
Brown added Wests have always been a big part of the Newcastle community and their ownership is the best result possible.
“Not only for the Knight but for rugby league in general because a strong Newcastle rugby league is great for the game itself,” he said.
“Wests are a big community club and it is great to know there is a long-term plan there.
“I think we can build it back to where it was in the late 90s, early 2000s.”
While Brown admits some parts of recruiting players is luck, by having Wests on board, it will certainly be an attraction to a lot of incoming players.
“You do need one or two cards to fall your way but as it stands, we’ve made some good recruitment decisions next year and we’ve got a young squad that is certainly growing,” explained Brown.
“Now it’s actually going to be formalised, I have no doubt a high-profile player, players that demand that higher end money and their agents will feel far more comfortable with the situation.
“To have this now has definitely got to be an advantage."
