GIVEN that he wears a size 16, Dominic Young's boots are going to take some filling.
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As Knights coach Adam O'Brien readies his squad for their 2024 NRL campaign, his main dilemma, on paper at least, appears to be how he can replace Young on Newcastle's right flank.
The towering English import, who has joined Sydney Roosters on a lucrative four-year contract, scored 25 tries last season, many of them spectacular, shattering the club record in the process.
In his 51 top-grade games for Newcastle, Young crossed the stripe 43 times, at a strike rate of 84.3 per cent.
To put that in context, Akuila Uate scored 110 tries for Newcastle in 161 games (68.3 per cent), Timana Tahu posted 93 in 126 games (73.8 per cent), and Darren Albert managed 65 in 90 appearances (72.2 per cent).
In other words, statistics suggest Young rates as the most lethal finisher in Newcastle's history, and over the past two seasons, he has contributed roughly one-fifth of their overall try tally.
While it shapes as an impossible task to unearth a like-for-like replacement for a two-metre, 109-kilogram 22-year-old who is one of the NRL's fastest players, O'Brien has confidence in the options at his disposal.
"Clearly Dom has moved on and replacing him on that wing is a big one for us," O'Brien said.
"But we've got Kristian Mapapalangi doing great things at the moment.
"We've signed Tom Jenkins from Penrith and he's fitting in really well.
"And then we've got Enari Tuala, who is just Mr Dependable. He never lets you down, Enari."
Jenkins has joined the Knights on a two-year deal from premiers Penrith, where the presence of Brian To'o, Taylan May and Sunia Turuva restricted him to six NRL games over the past two seasons.
The 22-year-old might be inexperienced, but he has been described as a "long-term NRL player" by Newcastle football director Peter Parr, and he boasts a decent tryscoring ratio in his own right. His five tries in the top grade have come at an 83.3 per cent strike rate, and in 49 NSW Cup games he has touched down 40 times (81.6 per cent).
Mapapalangi, recently turned 21, debuted in the NRL last year, appearing in two games, only to suffer a shoulder injury that wrote off his entire 2023 campaign.
His efforts in the gym and on the training pitch suggest he is intent on making up for lost time and establishing himself as an NRL regular.
Tuala, now 25, is coming off a frustrating season in which he played only six NRL games and found it hard to crack a start in a high-quality backline.
But in his previous three years with the Knights, he strung together 66 first-grade appearances and scored 32 tries - the most by any Newcastle player.
The wildcard candidate is 22-year-old David Armstrong, who has been promoted to Newcastle's top squad after spending most of last season playing fullback in Newcastle's NSW Cup team.
