Let’s call them the Fly-By-Knights, a hypothetical NRL team with one common denominator: they have all been part of Newcastle’s system during Adam O’Brien’s tenure as head coach, only to move on for a variety of reasons.

Some, like Daniel Saifiti, were paid big dollars by the Knights to go and play for a rival club.

Others, such as Connor Watson and Josh King, felt they had a better chance of realising their potential in a new environment, under a new boss.

The vast majority, however, were simply not retained, ostensibly because the powers-that-be at Newcastle considered they were dispensable. As O’Brien has consistently stated: “You can’t keep them all.”

The issue is that basic arithmetic lends weight to the theory that perhaps Newcastle should have made more effort to retain at least some of the Fly-By-Knights, who have scored almost twice as many tries this season as O’Brien’s current squad.

Starting at fullback, the (imaginary) team is: Thomas Jenkins (Penrith, 9 tries), Grant Anderson (Melbourne, 10), Starford To’a (Wests Tigers, 9), Gehamat Shibasaki (Brisbane, 12), Jacob Kiraz (Canterbury, 4), Connor Watson (Sydney Roosters, 4), Jake Clifford (North Queensland, 4), Kurt Mann (Canterbury, 2), Beau Fermor (Gold Coast, 6), Zac Hosking (Canberra, 4), Josh King (Melbourne, 3), Chris Randall (Gold Coast, 2), Daniel Saifiti (Dolphins, 2). Bench: Simi Sasagi (Canberra, 3), Kurt Donoghoe (Dolphins, 3), Oryn Keeley (Dolphins, 2), Ben Talty (Brisbane, 1).

That’s a collective tally of 80 tries for the season. If they were playing in the NRL this year, they would be equal third on the overall team tally, level with competition leaders Canberra. Only the Dolphins (89) and Melbourne (88) have crossed the stripe more often.

O’Brien’s troops, meanwhile, have scored only 45 tries, the fewest in the competition.