‘Not best practice’: Lessons learnt as Dom Young’s move back to the Knights stalls, Dane Gagai prepares for NRL game milestone

The Knights have responded to claims from Roosters coach Trent Robinson that the club mishandled negotiations around Dom Young’s early release.

Adam O’Brien has paid tribute to milestone man Dane Gagai as he prepares to join the NRL’s 300-game club on Friday night, with the Knights coach not wanting to talk too much about the club’s pursuit of Dom Young that has seemingly fallen apart this week.

It seemed just last week that the English winger was set to rejoin the Knights this season after being linked with a move away from the Roosters who had dropped him to reserve grade.

But negotiations have stalled, with Roosters coach Trent Robinson slamming the Knights and Young’s agent for the way they handled the potential deal.

Robinson was disappointed that the Knights approached his club but then demanded the Roosters pay Young’s salary when they were the ones who instigated a potential move.

There were hopes last week that Dom Young would be back at the Knights by now. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

“Probably a thing that I’ve learnt out of the week is that doing your recruitment and retention through you guys (the media) is not best practice,” O’Brien said, with the Knights boss working alongside Robinson at the Roosters in the past.

“Right now he’s a Rooster and I’m focused on Fletcher Hunt being on the wing for us tomorrow night.”

Hunt will make his NRL debut against the Eels after scoring five tries in his past five games in reserve grade, but it’s a man at the other end of his career who has attracted the headlines this week.

Gagai, 34, made his debut back in 2011 and has enjoyed an incredible career at several clubs as well as on the representative stage for Queensland and Australia.

O’Brien praised Gagai’s relentless pursuit of excellence and said he had the rare ability to make other players around him lift at training and in games.

Dane Gagai plays his 300th NRL game on Friday night. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

“It’s really special for him to join the 300 club, especially the way that he’s played is quite remarkable because every tackle and every run is a full-on contest for Dane,” he said.

“To do that over that length of time (is quite an achievement). Three hundred games is a lot of pre-seasons, that’s a lot of hill sessions and a lot of wrestle sessions.

“To do that in front of our local supporters and his family is very fitting.”

The Knights are chasing a much-needed win against an Eels side featuring Dylan Brown, who will move to Newcastle next season on the richest deal in NRL history.

It’s been a rough few weeks for the Knights who will be without powerhouse winger Greg Marzhew (knee) for the next few games.

“He’s had some surgery on an MCL,” his coach said.

“I think it was initially 4-6 (weeks), but he’s a very good healer.

“He’s very optimistic and he’s told me ‘I’ll be right for next week’, but I don’t think that’s the case. It’s not an extended thing, so he’ll be back before you know it.”

Originally published as ‘Not best practice’: Lessons learnt as Dom Young’s move back to the Knights stalls, Dane Gagai prepares for NRL game milestone