OF all the names touted as possible replacements for Mitchell Pearce, the one most likely to leave Knights fans suffering insomnia is Corey Norman.
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Many assumed Norman had played his last game in the NRL when St George Illawarra opted not to re-sign the enigmatic 30-year-old at the end of last season.
But after confirmation on Wednesday that Pearce had officially requested a release from the final year of his contract with Newcastle so that he can accept a lucrative three-season deal with Catalans Dragons, speculation surfaced that Norman was hopeful the Knights might consider throwing him a lifeline.
At face value, Norman could potentially do a job.
After a 226-game NRL career, he's an experienced campaigner who can single-handedly turn a contest.
Knights fans might ruefully recall the round-four clash with the Dragons in 2019, when a booming Norman field goal decided a golden-point thriller.
But unfortunately for Norman, when he turns results, it's not always in his team's favour.
Norman is one of those players who has earned huge money and gained a high profile without actually achieving much at all.
In his 12 seasons with Brisbane, Parramatta and the Dragons, Norman appeared in only three play-off games.
Of those, he won none.
He has also played one State of Origin game for Queensland, which they lost.
In other words, it's hard to consider Norman a big-game player when he has never actually won a big game.
Indeed, there is no lack of evidence that only the bravest of punters would back Norman to deliver under pressure.
His last game for St George Illawarra was a case in point.
With the Dragons trailing South Sydney 20-16 and just seconds left on the clock, the Dragons fired the ball to Norman ... who promptly knocked it on. Game over.
His critics might agree that was an appropriate last touch for Norman in the NRL.
Any club pondering giving him another chance should perhaps cast an eye over the baggage that accompanies the mercurial five-eighth.
There was the sex video, the dinner with bikies and alleged criminals, and the drug-possession charges (no conviction recorded).
There was the video in which Norman appears to encourage an elderly man to inhale a line of suspicious white powder off a plate.
More recently there was a street fight in Cronulla and, of course, the infamous Dragons barbecue that cost Paul Vaughan his job and left Norman with a $50,000 fine.
All of which is a reminder that Norman should be on first-name terms with the NRL integrity unit.
So was Pearce, but there is one notable difference.
Pearce has had his share of well-documented dramas, but when the Knights signed him, they knew he had won multiple play-off games, they knew he had won at Origin level, and that he'd won a grand final.
In short, they knew he was a winner. If only the same could be said of Corey Norman.