NRL 2020: Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight wants to stay at South Sydney

He’s being hunted by the Titans, but Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight says Wayne Bennett’s influence should be enough to keep him at Redfern for the foreseeable future.

Reborn Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight has credited Wayne Bennett with igniting his NRL career and says he doesn’t want to leave South Sydney.

Knight has emerged as one of the Gold Coast’s recruitment targets, with the Titans making a three-year play to lure the hard-running forward north.

The Titans yesterday missed out on England prop Luke Thompson, who spurned interest from Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook, his former mentor at St Helens, to ink a three-year deal with Canterbury.

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After spending three years at three different NRL clubs, Knight had a breakout season with the Rabbitohs in 2019, playing 23 games.

At 25, he has turned his career around after gaining notoriety in 2016 when he was involved in a serious drink driving incident whilst at Manly.

Liam Knight has spurned the Titans. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

Off-contract at the end of 2020, Knight credited South Sydney coach Bennett for his career resurrection and said he wanted to remain at Redfern.

“It’s hard to put into words what Wayne did for me,” Knight told The Courier-Mail.

“He took me aside and said ‘I’ll back you until you show that you don’t deserve it’.

“Wayne told me straight up I was in his plans but if I don’t perform or give back that trust I won’t be there.

“I’ve got a good, honest relationship with Wayne now. That did the world for me.

“I got so much confidence from that and the backing of someone like Wayne. We clicked really well from the start.

“I feel at home at Souths. I’ve got 2020 and I don’t want to go anywhere. Hopefully I can stick around for a few years after that.

“We’re in talks. I want to stick around so hopefully they can sort it out.”

Knight made his sole NRL appearance for Manly in 2016, joined the Roosters in 2017 before being released to Canberra the same year.

He played nine games for the Raiders in 2018 before being picked up by Bennett’s Rabbitohs.

He blossomed into a starting prop for the Rabbitohs last year as Souths reached the preliminary finals and said he wanted to become even better in 2020.

“I was pretty happy with my season, I got an opportunity to play a lot of games and ended up starting at the back end of the year which was a goal of mine,” Knight said.

“I’m happy with my year but I’m not content. I don’t want to sit around and say ‘I had a good year, I’ll cruise this pre-season’.

“I had surgery so I’m coming back from that. It’s a different off-season to last year.

“I had bone cut out of my toe – it was fractured all year. It wouldn’t heal so I got rid of it.

“It was pretty annoying all year. It wasn’t like a fully broken toe, it was a stress fracture of a small bone that sits under your toe.

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“This has definitely put me on the path I’ve always wanted to be on. I had a few hiccups here and there, but I’m definitely where I want to be right now.

“I have to give a massive thanks to Souths for the faith they had in me.”

Knight said he hoped to step up this year in the absence of legendary forward Sam Burgess, who was forced into retirement by injury.

“I don’t think anyone could do what Sam could do, he’s a once-in-a-generation player,” he said.

“I’ll do my best to fill some part of the hole that was left.

“I’m not going to try and be Sam Burgess. That’s just silly.”