Matt Scott appears increasingly likely to join Newcastle in 2018, potentially joining fellow Cowboy Kalyn Ponga as the Knight’s high-profile signings for 2018.
Scott turns 32 in July, putting him in the twilight of his career. The Cowboys have offered their co-captain a two-year deal worth $1.2 million, a contract that would ensure the prop finished his career in Townsville a one-club player. On the other hand, Newcastle are handing him $2.7 million over three years, blowing the Cowboys out of the water. With his playing days coming to an end, a move to the Hunter Valley looks certain, with Scott himself saying he's not afraid to leave Townsville.
“Hopefully I can sort something out with the Cowboys but I’m definitely not tied down up there. It’s probably my last big contract, so it’s very important that I get it right and make sure it’s right for myself and my family. If that’s moving clubs or staying at the Cowboys I’m yet to see.”
Carrying an impressive CV, Scott has done it all in the game. He co-captained North Queensland to their maiden premiership in 2015, won several Origin series, World Cups, and a World Cup Challenge with a Dally M Prop of the Year to boot. It’s not often a player of Matt Scott’s calibre comes around, and to a struggling side like Newcastle, he could turn them around.
Back-to-back wooden-spooners Newcastle have strengthened their forward pack after only winning one game in 2016, signing Manly hard-men Jamie Buhrer and Josh Starling and former Kangaroo Anthony Tupou, while Rory Kostjasyn is a premiership-winning utility set to become the Knight’s full-time hooker in 2017. While they all have their merits, Scott is on another level to them.
While they’re stacked with youth, by 2020 (the final year of Scott’s supposed three-year contract) Newcastle could be a very different club. Jacob and Daniel Saifiti will be in their fifth of first-grade, but having an international prop show them the ropes, they’ll rise to another level. Sione Mata’utia has also transitioned into a back-rower recently, handing the Knights a strong foundation for the future. While these youngsters aren’t quite up to the rigours of week-in, week-out NRL football, in five years’ time, they could be anything.
A club with Kalyn Ponga calling shots from the back, young halves organising the side and a youthful pack, the Knights have all the cogs to build a premiership-winning team for the future, bar one. But with Matt Scott set to spearhead the Knight’s forward pack, it seems the last cog will finally be in place, and Newcastle are certain to reap the rewards in years to come.