With Newcastle management still dealing with the fallout of the David Klemmer situation early Friday, Johns opened up on the club's current predicament, how they can move forward and the need to recruit a playmaker.

The champion halfback - a coaching consultant at Newcastle contracted into 2023 - suggested the Knights had an identity problem.

"We've got to work out our DNA, what sort of club are we?" Johns said, speaking on his brother's SEN Sydney radio show, Morning Glory with Matty Johns.

"What sort of team are we?

"Are we going to be a gritty team that defends, or are we going to be a flamboyant team? What's our attack? How do we want to play?

"Once the Knights work that out, then they can start recruiting players that fit the DNA."

The striking comments came after Johns' brother Matty said he had asked Newcastle captain Kalyn Ponga recently: "What is the style [of the team]?".

He said Ponga replied: "I don't know."

Johns, who played 249 games for the Knights and guided them to their only premierships in 1997 and 2001, was also critical of the turnover of the club's recruitment officers in recent years.

"You had Troy Pezet, then Alex McKinnon and now Clint Zammit," he said.

"There's no stability there."

Matty added the best thing Wests Group had done during their five-year ownership was "appoint Peter Parr", the new director of football who started this week.

Johns reiterated his opinion, expressed on multiple occasions over the past year, that the club should recruit an experienced playmaker, specifically maligned Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks.

"Without doubt, short term - they have to land a half, and obviously [Luke] Brooks is the one," he said.

"But long term, there is no easy way out - it's build from within. Identify the best juniors and coach the hell out of them. It might be a two or three-year process, but that's what Penrith do."

Brooks, 27, won't feature for the Tigers against the Knights at Campbelltown on Sunday. Likely gone for the season with a calf injury, he is replaced by 22-year-old Scone product Jock Madden.

Newcastle will be out to replicate their round-two win over the Tigers, which has turned out to be their second-best victory this year, but much has changed since then. The Knights lost seven consecutive games after that 26-4 victory, and have failed to fire in most games since. They've won only five of 19 games overall and will drop to 15^th if they lose Sunday.

After sacking coach Michael Maguire, Wests have had a resurgence in the past month - beating Brisbane (32-18) last week after close losses to North Queensland (27-26), Penrith (18-16) and Parramatta (28-20).

But they are now without Jackson Hastings as well as Luke Brooks. Newcastle are missing Ponga, Klemmer and Lachlan Fitzgibbon, but Bradman Best is back in the side. Newcastle have won only three of nine games at Campbelltown since 2000.

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