WITH the Newcastle Knights on the verge of securing a second consecutive wooden spoon, here are the sobering statistics that reveal the full extent of the Knights salary cap nightmare and the club’s mismanagement of the cap since the end of Wayne Bennett’s coaching rein in 2014.

Robbie Rochow’s decision to quit the club at the end of this season to join South Sydney will bring the number of players who have left after playing in the NRL for the Knights over the past three seasons to 27.

Jeremy Smith’s retirement in three weeks’ time will make that 28.

Incredibly, over that same period, just 11 players from other clubs have been signed with two of them — Tariq Sims and Carlos Tuimavave — already gone.

Round 20

Three of the nine left — Mitch Barnett, Brendan Elliot and Peter Mata’utia — were signed by current coach Nathan Brown mid-season on cheap deals.

BROKEN: Tigers finals hopes in disarray

OUT: Knights want to punt Mullen

So how is it possible that so many players, several on huge salaries, have left without being replaced and where has all that salary cap money gone?

It’s the question that has been gnawing away at angry and frustrated Knights’ fans and is why so many young local juniors have had to be promoted before their time by Brown to fill the void.

The answer?

The money has been eaten up by inflated salaries, disastrous back-ended deals, hefty upgrades and a host of questionable recruitment decisions. The bottom line is there has been a complete lack of forward planning not helped by the turnover of coaches.

The finger has been pointed at Bennett and his quick fix quest for a premiership.

When he departed the club at the end of 2014, the cap was already under severe pressure.

A total of 12 players left at the same time as Bennett and the only new signings to play in the NRL under Rick Stone in 2015 were Tariq Sims, Jack Stockwell and Carlos Tuimavave.

But while the cap was already a mess, it has been made worse by poor recruitment decisions since then.

The club is trying to offload Akuila Uate. Source: News Limited

Kade Snowden was signed to a new two year deal by Stone despite serious concerns over fitness.

Trent Hodkinson was brought in at $600,000 a season with the club then forced to pay a further $200,000 to Tyrone Roberts to move him on to the Titans.

Stockwell was not an established NRL prop when he signed but was given a two year deal with next year worth $350,000.

You can’t help but just shake your head at those sorts of numbers and the money that some other players are being paid.

The upshot is Brown and head of football Darren Mooney are left to try and fix the mess.

But despite having a roster dominated by kids, he is still left with only pocket money to play with in 2017 unless Snowden’s quest for medical retirement is rubber-stamped by the NRL and the likes of Stockwell and Akuila Uate find new clubs.

It’s a self-inflicted disaster with a lot more pain to come yet.