Picking the greatest Newcastle Knights side of all time sounds easy enough until you actually sit down and go through the names and realise the calibre of players you have to leave out.

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Club legends like Marc Glanville, Darren Albert, Billy Peden and Mark Hughes, all outstanding players and worthy selections, haven't made my side. Peden and Hughes are both dual premiership winners and Albert is responsible for the greatest moment in the club's history.

Hall of Famer Michael Hagan misses out, as does a host of the club's Origin and Test representatives over the last 33 seasons.

As sure as night follows day, there'll be some selections you won't agree with and my use of the bench is unconventional in this day and age of coaches almost always picking four forwards or three forwards and a utility.

Let the debate begin.

FULLBACK:

Robbie O'Davis

Contenders: Kalyn Ponga, Brad Godden.

There will no doubt be some younger fans making a case for Ponga, given his brilliance and potential but O'Davis picks himself after a brilliant 223 game top grade career with the club that included two premiership wins and a Clive Churchill Medal in 1997. A fantastic attacking player with speed and footwork, O'Davis was only slightly built but great under the high ball and never lacked for courage when it came to defence.

WINGERS:

Timana Tahu and Akuila Uate

Contenders: Darren Albert, Adam MacDougall, James McManus.

Tahu was a brilliantly gifted athlete with exceptional footwork whose remarkable try-scoring strike-rate of 93 tries in 126 games for the club makes him a selection must. Uate earns a bad rap from some fans because of the way his career finished at the club. They forget he scored 110 tries in 161 games, won three Dally M winger of the year awards and was rated the world's best winger at the height of his career. Albert, the Scone Thoroughbred junior with the blinding speed, unluckily misses out while McManus was a solid contributor over a long period.

CENTRES:

Matt Gidley and Adam MacDougall

Contenders: Mark Hughes, Owen Craigie.

Gidley was one of the game's great modern day centres, forming a deadly partnership with both Tahu and Albert and picks himself. His signature pass, the "Gidley flick" will live on through the ages. MacDougall played a lot of his career on the wing but was also dynamic in the centres during his second stint at the club. The only downside to switching him there is it costs Hughes a spot which many people would argue he thoroughly deserves.

FIVE-EIGHTH:

Matty Johns

Contenders: Michael Hagan, Jarrod Mullen.

There is an argument around that Andrew Johns was a better player when he wasn't playing alongside his older brother but Matty is still the five-eighth in any best Knights side chosen. Hagan was skillful with the footy and a great leader while Mullen was an outstanding talent who probably suffered from not having enough experience around him as he developed.

HALFBACK:

Andrew Johns

Contenders: Jarrod Mullen, Mitchell Pearce.

Johns is the GOAT. Nothing more needs to be said.

LOCK:

Ben Kennedy

Contenders: Marc Glanville, Billy Peden, Jeremy Smith.

Kennedy only played just over a quarter of his 86 games for the Knights at lock but that is where I'd play him in this side. He was skillful but at the same time intimidating and tough and one of the greatest competitors I've seen. The downside in naming him there is both Glanville and Peden, two players who bled for the red and blue during outstanding careers, miss out.

SECOND ROWERS:

Adam Muir and Steve Simpson

Contenders: Ben Kennedy, Beau Scott, Sam Stewart.

These two are the reason I've shifted Kennedy to lock. Muir was a rangy, hard-to-tackle, ball-playing backrower and not too dissimilar in the skill department to Kennedy. Simpson was raw-boned and a great line runner in attack. As tough as, he was an uncompromising defender who not only rarely missed a tackle, but hurt you every time he made one. Scott brought toughness and leadership to the Knights when it was needed while Stewart will always hold a special place at the club being the inaugural captain.

FRONT ROWERS:

Paul Harragon and Mark Sargent

Contenders: Tony Butterfield, Josh Perry, Matt Parsons, David Klemmer.

Harragon's passion for the club and the town and his inspirational leadership and the respect he earned from everyone in the game is unrivaled. Hard to see him ever being surpassed as the greatest captain in Knights history. Sargent, along with Hagan and Stewart, was an early club figure-head, a former Rothmans Medal winner, the club's first International and one of the most destructive ball-running props we have seen. Butterfield misses my run-on side but only just and like-wise Klemmer, who had a stellar first season with the club in 2019. Perry and Parsons led from the front in winning the 2001 premiership.

HOOKER:

Danny Buderus

Contender: Robbie McCormack

Buderus is the most capped Knight and on the podium for the greatest of all time. Highly skilled, highly driven and hugely passionate, he was one of the toughest players to ever lace on boots for the club. In the top echelon of hookers of all time. McCormack had many of Buderus' qualities and was a wonderful competitor who made the hooking spot his own during his 154-game career.

BENCH:

Tony Butterfield, David Klemmer, Kurt Gidley and Kalyn Ponga

Gidley is one of the game's greatest ever utility players while Butterfield and Klemmer would be my props rotation. Given my entire backrow were all capable 80 minute players, Ponga's brilliance and game-breaking abilities gets him the nod for the final bench spot.

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