...coming home to Newcastle?

If you look back through yout thread last week i mentioned.

Big Willy.

No-one took notice.

Culture wise,

He left the Dogs, Roosters and cows in a mess..

He divides the playing group. has he changed? Time will tell, but he would not be anywhere near the same player as he once was...

Apart from my own team, i am really interested in how the knights go. Mainly from Bennys view. He inherited a pretty damn good team from Nathan Brown, that drags team was a top 4 team and he added Boyd, Smith and Costigan etc.

This Knights team is a bottom of the top 8 team on paper, he also added Boyd and a few others here....This is probably the weakest rostered team he has ever had.

the bloke is dressing room AIDS

Agree completely. This is easily the weakest roster he's ever had. The Dragons were strong as you mention, and he added some of the guys you mention and made them even stronger. They just lacked the belief or hard edge.. At Brisbane, he had a side full of Qld and Australian players.

At Newcastle he did inherit a bottom of the 8 squad. They've been that way since 2006 when they made the top 4. I'm not surprised or disappointed at how they have gone so far this year. It is also why Benny signed for 4 years. I never thought he would walk in and win the comp, although everyone else seemed to think that would be the case.

He inherited a team built by Smith and Stone who in my opinion couldn't organise a fuck in a brothel nor coach a fly to a bin. The guys he has brought in have all done well I think, except Boyd who has been disappointing so far (although I still think he'll come good) and Cuthbertson, who is a fringe first grader - how the fuck he played City last year when he's not even guaranteed a start for Newcastle is beyond me.

They have struggled to score points, which is not surprising given their new spine. And they have been been smashed up front, simply because they lack size. But they've tried in pretty much every game. Even Bennett said after the St George game that they hang in as good as any team he has coached.

Next year, or 2014, you'll see the best out of them.  

Newcastle Knights have signed Willie Mason for the remainder of 2012