They can no longer cling to the battler tag, having snared Bennett from St George Illawarra and also signed current rep players in fullback Darius Boyd and prop Kade Snowden.
"There's a lot of pressure on all of us, on the Hunter Sports Group because they bought the Knights, on Wayne (Bennett) because he is here, on me and (captain) Kurt (Gidley), on everyone,'' said Tahu.
"I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Wayne, he gave me the opportunity, he rang me up and it was words from heaven.
"I wanted to come back for probably the last couple of years but if Wayne wasn't coaching here I'd probably be still down in Sydney.''
Knights skipper Gidley said it was important that the club stay true to their working class roots amid the changes, with the Knights recognised as the fabric and soul of the Hunter.
"This town is built on on (being) a working class town and our fans, that's where their background comes from,'' Gidley said.
"I hope we keep that behind us because that's what we are built on.''
Like Tahu, former Cronulla prop Kade Snowden returns to the city where he began playing, a point not lost on his captain.
"This a town they love playing in, a town they love living in,'' Gidley said of duo.
"And footy-wise they are in the best place they could be.''
Snowden will test his troublesome neck and lower back over the next few weeks of the pre-season before a final decision is made on whether he needs clean up surgery on bulging discs that would sideline him for six weeks.
"For me I think my back is good but the only concern I've got is my neck,'' Snowden said.
"But I won't find out how good that is until we start doing contact ... I'm just waiting for that.''
As for that famous phone call from Tinkler back in February, Snowden said at first he wasn't sure if was Tinkler or someone playing a joke on him.
"I had to ask him a few times who it is but after that he said `you need to sign here' so I listened to him,'' Snowden said.
- AAP
