Knights Hook Shark

Newcastle Herald

Thursday April 24, 2008

By BRETT KEEBLE

NEWCASTLE coach Brian Smith says the

Knights have solved a crucial part of their

recruitment puzzle by securing Cronulla

hooker Isaac De Gois for the next three years.

The 23-year-old Sharks dummy-half is

Newcastle's first signing for 2009 and beyond

and, though he will succeed NSW and former

Australian captain Danny Buderus in the No.9

jersey, he wants to establish his own identity.

In an unusual twist, De Gois is also replacing

former Knight Terence Seu Seu, who will make

his Cronulla debut by relieving De Gois off the

bench against the Tigers at Toyota Stadium

on Sunday.

"It's a big task, obviously," De Gois told The

Herald yesterday. "Danny Buderus is one of

the best hookers to ever play the game, but

I'm just going up there to concentrate on

playing my own game, try to improve and get

better week in, week out.

"Now I can concentrate 100 per cent on the

Sharks for the rest of this year. I'm contracted

to the Sharks until the end of the year and

I want to play to the best of my ability and

hopefully we can go all the way this year."

By signing De Gois, Newcastle will not

pursue former Knights junior Michael Ennis.

Another player on their original short list,

Tigers rake Stuart Flanagan, signed a three-year

deal with Canberra this week.

Smith said re-signing Kurt Gidley last month

until the end of 2011 and adding De Gois to

their roster meant the Knights could breathe

easier in their retention and recruitment drive.

"We've got our future captain and our likely

current Australian rep signed long-term, we've

got a hooker now, we've got contenders in

the halfback positions, the basis of a good

forward pack for next year and a bevy

of outside backs that are coming along,"

Smith said.

"We're reasonably well placed now.

There's not a great deal of urgency

now. There's perhaps a couple of

things we'd like to

add to our squad for

next year, but we're

not under a great

deal of pressure

about that anymore

now that we've

signed a hooker."

Full report inside

League 2008,

starts Page 37

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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