Not only is Green the best man for the job, he is really the only man for the leadership role in the short term.

Yes, he has only played three games for the Knights and, at 35 in September, it's almost a given he won't be re-signed beyond the end of this season. But why should that be an issue if, for this year, there is no one better or more qualified for the job.

Have a look through the Knights squad and try and identify a genuine alternative who is ready to go now.

On the measure of experience, David Klemmer and Tyson Frizell are certainly senior players who many Knights fans would argue fit the bill. But Klem is more bodyguard than front-man, who gets his job done through actions rather than words while Frizell has been in town for two minutes and is still putting names to faces.

Green's strength, aside from his playmaking abilities and his 14 years of experience at the top level, is the positive influence he has on the players around him both on and off the field.

Coach Adam O'Brien was aware of those qualities from their time together at the Melbourne Storm when he decided to bring Green on-board towards the back-end of last season following his Warriors release.

So it wasn't a surprise Green made an instant impact with the playing group with his cool head and sage advice from day one. It's why O'Brien wanted him back this season despite his knee reconstruction after he got out of his deal with the Bulldogs and it's why he regards him as a future assistant coach after he finishes playing.

The negative with Green is he is likely to miss the opening month of the season but he'll be mentoring those being groomed as future leaders - players such as Jayden Brailey, Daniel Saifiti and Mitch Barnett - to fill in.

When O'Brien took over as coach at the start of last season, his biggest challenge from day one was the side's lack of mental toughness. As good as the club's roster rebuild has been talent-wise since the 2016 disaster, the lack of genuine leadership within the playing group has been a major contributor to those mental frailties.

If O'Brien is to win a premiership in Newcastle in the next few years, fixing that imbalance will be crucial.

It's why he has been working on a new leadership model for more than six months. The aim, with the help of professionals, is to develop the sorts of qualities needed in the younger players he is bringing through.

Blake Green now becomes an even more significant part of that process.

In a sign Bradman Best is not looking to leave the Knights when his contract expires at the end 2022, the powerhouse young centre is in the throes of entering the real estate market for a house of his own in Newcastle.

It's no secret Best is at the top of the club's retention priority pile despite still having this season and next to run on his existing deal with CEO Phil Gardner even suggesting last year he would sign him to a lifetime deal if he could.

Realistically, the plan is to up-grade and extend Best's contract for a few more years to make sure he stays out of the clutches of rival clubs.

Accusations on social media that the female Knights employee caught up in the Mitchell Pearce texting drama was "sacked" by the club are well wide of the mark.

Over the past few days, the Knights have been hammered over their alleged treatment of the employee and accused of double standards after Channel Ten revealed she was no longer employed by the club.

We're reliably told it was the employee herself who made the decision to quit.

It's great to see respected former Knights specialist Neil Halpin back at the club this season in the role of Chief Medical Officer.

Halpin, who was previously at the club for more than two decades, will oversee all home games with ex-Roosters CMO Dr Ameer Ibrahim looking after Sydney games.

Another long-termer Pete McGeoch is still involved while Luke Dan, the son of former Knights members' board chairman Nick Dan, has joined the club's medical team.

It's understood the Knights are making contingency plans with their pre-season trial against the Storm in Melbourne next month under serious threat because of the border closures due to COVID.

With the NRL restricting clubs to just one trial, the Knights had done a deal to play the defending premiers in Melbourne on February 27 with the Storm to return the favour next season in Newcastle. But given the uncertainty around COVID, the trial may have to be called off early so that other arrangements can be made.

We're hearing a more likely opponent could be the Warriors, who will be based on the Central Coast by then. Their trial is believed to be against the Titans on the Gold Coast but it may now also be under a cloud.

Knights forwards David Klemmer and Lachlan Fitzgibbon were noticeable by their absence when Mitchell Pearce returned to pre-season training on Thursday following his emotional media address in the wake of his texting dramas.

Big Klem was given a free pass for the day to be by his wife Chloe's side for the birth of their fourth child - a baby sister for their three boys, Cooper, Jaxon and David.

With Fitzgibbon implicated as being off-side with Pearce because of his close relationship with a third party involved in the texting saga, his absence raised eye-brows before it was revealed the backrower was actually off crook, along with one or two other players, due to a gastric bug going around.