My colleague Barry Toohey reckons they should go all-out for Cameron Munster or Mitchell Moses.

I'm not sure if any of them will solve the Newcastle Knights' halfback dilemma, or even if the latter duo are feasible options.

So instead I've come up with a left-field alternative, who I'll get back to in due course.

But the one point on which everyone seems to concur - except perhaps Jake Clifford, Anthony Milford and Adam Clune - is that the departure of Mitchell Pearce to France at the end of last season left the Knights with a void that has not been satisfactorily filled.

As Knights coach Adam O'Brien admitted this week: "We haven't replaced Mitchell. That's the honest answer.

"I think the guys that look after recruitment would certainly be looking at halfback ... we never replaced our No.7 last year. We already had Adam Clune on the books, before Junior left.

"And I think any time you've seen this year teams play without their regular spine, they've struggled, whether you're up the top end of the ladder, or the bottom. So we're in the market for good halves."

It's hard to argue with that logic.

Johns, who knows a thing or two about halfback play, has gone on record twice now to declare the much-maligned Tiger Brooks is potentially a "great" player, and that he would "love" to work with him at Newcastle.

Brooks, still only 27, is now in his 10th season in the NRL and, after 185 top-grade games, is yet to make a single appearance in the finals.

Joey clearly attributes that to the quality of the players around him, which is a fair point.

But by the same token, at various stages Brooks has played alongside the likes of Moses, James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall and Chris Lawrence and still hasn't been able to steer them into the post-season.

Given he has no proven pedigree as a big-game player, it would seemingly require a huge leap of faith to back him in as the man capable of leading Newcastle back to the promised land.

Nonetheless, all things considered, Brooks would appear the most likely candidate, especially if the Tigers are so eager to get him off their books that they agree to provide a partial payout, enabling the Knights to sign him at a discounted rate.

If I was framing a market, he would be the odds-on favourite to run out wearing the blue-and-red No.7 jersey next season.

The aforementioned Baz Toohey, however, has urged the Knights to take a plunge on a long shot, writing recently that they should invest a fortune to sign either Munster or Moses, both of whom can start negotiating with rival clubs if they don't re-sign with Melbourne and Parramatta respectively before the end of November.

It sounds good in theory, but I reckon the reality is this simple.

Munster and Moses will be $1 million-a-year players wherever they end up. Presumably they are happy and settled at their current clubs.

Why would they leave? Well, possibly if they thought a rival club could provide them with a better chance of winning a premiership, which would hardly appear the case with Newcastle.

Alternatively, if the money they are offered is simply impossible to refuse.

That raises the question of how far above $1 million would the Knights be willing to go.

I just think it's fraught with danger. Firstly, if a player's primary motivation is chasing a dollar, how much do results matter to him, deep down inside?

Moreover, if a club breaks the bank to sign someone and he is then plagued by injuries, or alternatively is unable to perform as he did at his previous outfit, then their whole salary cap becomes a house of cards.

All of which brings me to a quick fix that might not blow the Knights' budget - throw Kalyn Ponga the No.7 jersey and get him to change his game.

I know what you're thinking. Would that be a detrimental move for Newcastle's best player, and the team as a whole?

I don't believe so. Ponga's fancy footwork and ability to break the line are usually what feature on the highlights reel, but his ball-playing nous is just as impressive.

Just consider the two try assists he produced in the recent loss to Canberra. Firstly, he picked up the ball at dummy-half, stuttered, manipulated the goal-line defence and sent Kurt Mann over untouched. Too easy.

Later in the game he produced a pinpoint grubber kick for Mat Croker to score.

Classic halfback tries.

Get him to play first receiver as a genuine on-the-ball halfback on a weekly basis and all of a sudden he's not waiting - and opposition defenders aren't waiting - for the play to come his way.

The more times he handles the ball, the more dangerous he should theoretically be.

A switch to halfback might also go a long way towards protecting him from the type of high-speed, high-flying collisions that have become a recurring issue.

Like Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Nicho Hynes, I have no doubt Ponga could make the transition from the last line of defence to on-field general.

Then that will just leave the Knights with the challenge of replacing KP in the No.1 jumper.

Did you know Bradman Best played plenty of his junior footy as a fullback?