Mark Geyer: David Klemmer signing means Newcastle Knights must reach top four

Daniel Ramus

Mark Geyer: David Klemmer signing means Newcastle Knights must reach top four image

Mark Geyer says a top-four finish is a must for Newcastle following the acquisition of Test prop David Klemmer from Canterbury.

On Monday, the Knights confirmed the much-anticipated signing of the 24-year-old on a lucrative five-year deal after the Bulldogs granted him a release.

It caps off an impressive recruitment drive from Newcastle, who have also landed James Gavet, Tim Glasby, Edrick Lee and Jesse Ramien for 2019.

Those additions, along with what will be one of the NRL's most potent halves combinations in Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Pearce, should see the Knights skyrocket on the competition ladder, according to Geyer.

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"In turn, (confirmation of the Klemmer signing) now puts Newcastle Knights a top four team," Geyer said on Triple M.

"With the candles being put on top of the cake, on top of the icing which is Klemmer, you light them candles and all of a sudden you've got a top four team.

"This team is now, almost, you could almost say top eight is guaranteed, but top four now with the arsenal that they've acquired, they can involve themselves in any war and stay with the big guns because they now have so much artillery to fire back that it's not funny.

"And now all of a sudden they go from wooden spoon to a team that has made some great recruits.

"We all thought that if Mitchell Pearce stayed healthy this year that they would have made the eight easily.

"Man, honestly, if they don't make the top four I think there's going to be questions asked."

But Geyer says that while the Knights now have a strong roster, with it will come expectation.

The Penrith 1991 premiership winner believes coach Nathan Brown, who is on a special KPI-based contract that doesn't have a timeframe, will be under the pump if Newcastle's season starts to go off the rails.

"This is when we see whether Nathan Brown is the coach we think he is. We keep saying how brave the Knights have been over the last few seasons with basically having no player personnel," Geyer added.

"Over the last couple of years, their player personnel has developed now to a point where you look at their top 25 players and it's up there with one of the best in the whole competition.

"Now we see if Nathan Brown can manage that top 25 and take them to the next level.

"If he can, well, he's the coach we thought he could be. If expectation gets the better of him, and all of a sudden, Knights start losing a few in a row, guess who the first coach to be going will be?"

Geyer, however, believes the struggles for the Knights, who won three consecutive wooden spoons between 2015 and 2017, are now over.

"I think they can (be a force to be reckoned with). I think the fact that Mitchell Pearce will be fit for the whole year, the sea change has done him a world of good, getting out of Bondi. He seems a different guy at the moment, and he seems to be the man most players love to play with," he said.

"The fact that he's assembling these big guns around him at the moment, I think he's just kind of getting ready for a tilt at another premiership and I think that if this team does stay together in the next couple of years Newcastle will definitely win a comp."

 

Daniel Ramus