KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien has pointed to teenage debutants Krystian Mapapalangi and Oryn Keeley as evidence that the club can still produce and develop young talent.
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Mapapalangi and Keeley, both 19, played their maiden NRL games in Newcastle's 28-22 loss to Canberra at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
Mapapalangi played a full 80 minutes at left-side centre, while back-rower Keeley received 14 minutes of game time off the bench after being rushed into Newcastle's squad when Tyson Frizell broke down in the warm-up.
After Leo Thompson, they take the number of NRL rookies the Knights have blooded this season to three.
Meanwhile, four players who have spent time in Newcastle's system - Grant Anderson (Melbourne), Zac Hosking (Brisbane), Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury) and Zac Woolford (Canberra) - have debuted for rival teams this year, which has raised questions about the Knights' pathways program.
O'Brien is confident there are other young tyros in Newcastle's lower grades who won't be far behind Mapapalangi and Keeley.
Other project players such as Paul Bryan, Max Bradbury, Myles Martin, Chris Vea'ila and Riley Jones are set to train full-time with Newcastle's senior squad over the coming pre-season.
"There's a good group of kids down there," O'Brien said.
"I know everyone wants to comment about all the ones that we've let go, but there's a good group that we've kept.
"But [the critics] would rather feed on the negative at the moment."
O'Brien said Mapapalangi and Keeley would be better for the experience they gained on Sunday.
"One thing I will say, clearly their best footy is in front of them," he said.
"They're only young men, at the start of their journey."
Mapapalangi, a former Manly junior, produced a try assist for wing partner Edrick Lee, carried the ball 89 metres and made 10 tackles without a single miss.
"Krystian, in particular, didn't look out of place at all," O'Brien said.
"He was a little bit buggered there towards the end. He had some cramp going on. But he had some really good touches."
A Central Coast junior who has been with the Knights since under-16s and represented NSW under-19s earlier in the season, Keeley was supposed to be Newcastle's standby player on Sunday, only to learn just before kick-off that he would be playing.
"For Oryn, he got told after the two-minute bell that he was actually playing in the team," O'Brien said.
"We were going to give him the experience of rewarding him [as 18th man].
"He's had a really good year in our juniors, played junior Origin and stuff like that.
Next thing I'm shaking his hand, saying: 'You're playing'.
- ADAM O'BRIEN
"Just his training ethic around the group. They come in early every morning, so it was a bit of a reward for him, to experience game day as an 18th man.
"But next thing I'm shaking his hand, saying: 'You're playing'."
Keeley made four tackles and four runs in his cameo stint, but missed a tackle on Raiders Test prop Josh Papalii in the lead-up to Canberra's matchwinning try, scored by five-eighth Jack Wighton.
While Keeley is expected to make way this week if Frizell and Daniel Saifiti (COVID) are available for Sunday's clash with Gold Coast at CBus Super Stadium, Mapapalangi might be some chance of holding his spot after an injury that is likely to role Bradman Best out of Newcastle's two remaining games.
"He just tweaked a hamstring," O'Brien said of Best.
"It's not tendon. It's probably a two-weeker."
The setback caps off a year best forgotten by Best.
He has twice needed surgery to repair broken thumbs, dislocated an elbow and, along with Enari Tuala, was stood down for a game last week after arriving late to board the team bus.
Tuala, who played in NSW Cup against the Raiders, would appear the logical candidate to replace Best, given his seniority.
Tuala had played the previous two games on the left wing, but his demotion against Canberra provided Edrick Lee with a recall, and he grabbed the opportunity with a two-try showing.
Lee now has 13 tries in his 14 games this season and, given Sunday's display, seems likely to retain his spot for Newcastle's two remaining games, before he links with incoming NRL franchise the Dolphins next season.
Disappointed as he was with Sunday's result, O'Brien said his team "showed a little bit of backbone" that he hopes they can retain in their last two games.
