Newcastle have all but given up on luring Jesse Ramien back to a roster they’re expecting will remain untouched when Adam O’Brien takes charge in November.

Despite initially hoping to bring Ramien back following Nathan Brown’s exit last week, the Knights believe the promising three-quarter will find a new home.

Canterbury have also moved on from the bidding process, leaving Cronulla as the frontrunners to bring Ramien home to the Shire from next season onwards.

“We’ve not had a conversation with Jessie, we’ve not had a conversation with (manager) Gavin Orr about Jessie,” Gardner said.

“But if Jessie wanted to come back and have a conversation with us and he picked the phone up and ring, I’d certainly talk to him.”

The Knights also insisted O’Brien would be included on roster decisions despite focusing on finishing his role as an assistant with the Sydney Roosters.

However director of football Brian Canavan expects needing little alterations to a roster O’Brien is expected to lead back to the finals.

Sharks hooker Jayden Brailey is their only significant addition this summer.

“We’re certainly not going to intrude on his time, which is ultra-important, as he finishes his season with the Roosters,” Canavan said.

“Last year we turned over nearly 62 per cent of our senior player list.

“This year there’ll be little turnover of players as we’ve got really good, talented, well prepared juniors ready to step into the senior ranks.

“The other thing is we’ve got five State of Origin players, a stable group, we’re stable financially and governance-wise by the Wests Group.

“There’s not a great need to change.”

Gardner confirmed senior players were consulted over their coaching hire, with O’Brien widely believed to have gotten plenty of backing.

“We’ve certainly taken advice from the senior playing group about who they’d like to see. They’ve been very positive about all those coaches mentioned,” he said.

“Particularly Tim Glasby, who’s worked very closely with Adam … But all the coaches we mentioned, the playing group were happy to be coached by.”