A squad with the competitiveness of 17 Kurt Gidleys.
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Wouldn't Knights coach Adam O'Brien love the luxury of a scenaro like that.
Gidley, the retired former captain who last played for the club in 2015 before hanging up his boots two years ago, turned back the clock with an outstanding cameo performance to spearhead the Knights' run to the NRL Nines quarter-finals in Perth.
The 37-year-old set an inspiring example for a young, inexperienced Knights lineup, who despite being without a host of big names, accounted for the Warriors and Penrith to top their pool before falling to Parramatta in the quarterfinals.
O'Brien was full of praise for Gidley's influence on the squad both on and off the field and is working on ways to keep him and other Old Boys involved in the club.
"Gids was unbelieveable and is a real symbol of what we want to be as a football club week in and week out," O'Brien said.
"It's get out there and compete hard and give it your absolute best every time and that's what he did for us. His leadership, the way he spoke to the boys, the passion for the jersey - it was really clear right from the start.
"He loves Newcastle, he loves the club but the best thing now is he has a real connection to this current group of players. He spoke about that after the Eels game and it was a pleasure to hear. But I reckon the pleasure was all ours to be able to play alongside him.
"I loved that about it the most. It was a real honour for us all but particularly our young guys to see first hand just how hard he competed. There were a few Old Boys playing in the Nines but none competed harder than Gids."
O'Brien said there's been plenty of calls and messages suggesting he should sign Gidley and admitted he is working on ways to get him and some of the club's other Old Boys more involved.
"I'll definitely be working on a few things in and around that," he said. "I'm not settled on it yet with some of the Old Boys but they will be involved with the club for sure."
While the coach wasn't getting carried away, he said there were some encouraging signs from the Nines.
"I thought we were nice and resilient defensively, that was the main thing," he said.
"You have to keep things in perspective, it's Nines, and we are not completely there yet and we have to keep working hard but there were some signs there that's showing me we have some resilience about us that we can continue to focus on. Overall, I was pleased."
In particular, O'Brien liked what he saw from Tex Hoy and Jacob Saifiti.
"I thought young Tex was exceptional and Jacob Saifiti really stood up," he said. "There were times when you could see he was a real man out there for our younger kids.
"He really put his hand up and said 'follow me' so I really liked that in him. To me, he stood out as a first grader out there which is exactly what we wanted."
Meanwhile, Newcastle is reportedly in the running to host the NRL Nines in 2021 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
