IF you can't beat them, join them.
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They might not have said as much this week, but the actions of Josh King and Connor Watson speak louder than words.
King and Watson have been good players for the Knights but even better clubmen. They are the type of people you'd like to have as a work colleague, and as a mate.
They personify the credo that Allan McMahon instilled in Newcastle's 1988 pioneers: "Be the bloke that everyone wants to play alongside."
Yet now they're leaving.
Both announced this week they will be saying their farewells at the end of the season, no doubt with friendships intact and fond memories to last a lifetime.
I wish them all the best, but I'll be very surprised if the vast majority of Knights fans aren't feeling disappointed, and perhaps even a tad confused, about why their club has been unable to retain two players who are going to be hard to replace, on and off the field.
What is perhaps most surprising is that King and Watson both appear to have been genuinely happy living in Newcastle and playing for the Knights, and their motivation for leaving is not necessarily financial.
In Watson's case, he reportedly knocked back a three-year deal with Newcastle to accept a two-season contract from the Sydney Roosters for a smaller annual wage.
King signed with Melbourne for two years, and whatever the Knights were offering the Singleton junior, most players in his position would have made the same decision.
The obvious conclusion is that they believe moving will be beneficial for their football careers and help them reach their full potential.
In other words, they feel they will be more successful at their new clubs.
That's fair enough. The Roosters and Storm are remarkable organisations.
But the flip side is that their departures would suggest, reading between the lines, they have some doubts whether the Knights can compete with the premiership heavyweights in the foreseeable future.
I guess that's just the reality of the situation.
But it also makes me wonder if those doubts are shared by their teammates, and if so how much of a hindrance that is to their development as a team.
To have any chance of beating those sides, the Knights have to truly believe they can do it. And how can they believe, given the evidence of recent seasons?
The Storm have now outclassed Newcastle in 10 consecutive games, many of which were landslides. The only Knights players who have won against Melbourne did so at their previous clubs.
The Roosters have also dominated the Knights, winning 10 of their past 11 clashes.
If that didn't cause you to doubt yourself, I don't know what would.
As Phil Gould said last week: "A lot of teams are beaten before they start against Melbourne Storm. They just don't truly believe."
Perhaps that was what Knights coach Adam O'Brien alluded to earlier in the season when, after an embarrassing 36-18 loss to Wests Tigers, he queried whether a losing culture was "ingrained" in his troops.
Just how O'Brien turns that around is anyone's guess. It's a chicken-and-the-egg conundrum.
Which comes first? Victories or confidence? Confidence or victories?
Whatever the case, this is a problem O'Brien has inherited after taking the reins of a club which, in the decade between 2010 and 2019, collected three wooden spoons and lost more games than any other outfit in the NRL.
Just remember that not even Wayne Bennett, who has won more premierships than any coach in rugby league history, could solve the unfathomable puzzle known as the Newcastle Knights.
It is worth noting, however, that it took Bennett five seasons to win his first grand final with Brisbane. So too Craig Bellamy at Melbourne and Des Hasler in Manly.
O'Brien ended the Knights' seven-year play-off drought last season and has them on track for the finals this year, so he would appear on the right trajectory.
But players have short careers and, in the case of Watson and King, staying with Newcastle would have required a leap of faith.
And while both would appear to have good relationships with O'Brien, Bellamy and Roosters mentor Trent Robinson are not just the best two coaches in the NRL today, they rate among the finest of all time.
When they approach a player about the possibility of signing for their club, I doubt they get many knockbacks.
That, unfortunately for O'Brien and the Knights, is just the lie of the land.
The club has made progress, on and off the field, since hitting rock-bottom during a 2016 campaign that delivered just a solitary win. But it has been a slow, painstaking process.
The departures of Watson and King are undoubtedly a setback.
Watson is one of the NRL's best utilities who, like Kurt Gidley before him, appears capable of slotting into any role without missing a beat.
I can think of no higher praise for King than to say he reminds me of Tony Butterfield, one of Newcastle's all-time great warriors.
Knights fans can only hope that, before full-time sounds on this season, King and Watson are able to take care of some unfinished business.