Retired Newcastle hooker Danny Buderus says Kurt Gidley is the man to fill his dummy-half role for the Knights next NRL season.
Gidley has been plagued with injury in recent years, playing 19 games in the past two NRL seasons.
But the former NSW and Australian representative utility shapes up as a key player for a Knights outfit in 2014 without the services of club great Buderus – if he can stay fit.
With 2013 back-up hooker Craig Gower also retired, much could depend on how Gidley performs full-time in the No.9 role and Buderus believes he is up to it.
“We need him to get through the season,” Buderus told AAP.
“He brings so much to us and we need him out there a lot of the time and that’ll balance everything out for us if he stays in there and has got some options.
Buderus said hooker Adam Clydesdale would be a long-term Knights player, and Travis Waddell helped give the team depth.
“Kurt’s just got to look after himself. Kurt chases everything, he’s just so energetic.
“So it’s about playing within himself a little bit and making sure everyone helps him out with line speed and he doesn’t try and make any of those tackles I did in that last game.”
A leg injury kept 31-year-old Gidley on the sidelines for much of 2013, while a shoulder complaint ruled him out of much of the season before.
But Buderus is confident the 206-game NRL veteran can put those worries behind him.
“He’s a pretty resilient guy, Kurt,” Buderus said.
“He can keep himself up and he’s a strong character mentally.”
Buderus’ celebrated 257-game NRL career ended when he was knocked out attempting a first-half tackle on Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in the Knights’ grand final qualifier loss to premiers the Sydney Roosters.
But the 35-year-old said he has no regrets.
“Just sometimes you get a big flashback of it and go, `How did that happen, last game?'” he said.
“That’s footy. It’s a game of inches sometimes and one way either way it would have been a successful tackle.
“But wasn’t to be.”