Newcastle chief Steve Burraston has confirmed that Chris Houston will quit the club on Wednesday afternoon, two days after the forward was charged with four drug-related offences.
Houston was stood down by the Knights on Monday afternoon after the club was informed he had been charged with three counts of supplying ecstasy and one count of supplying cocaine.
And while the Knights had earlier on Wednesday denied reports Houston intended to resign from the club - just three months after he'd signed a new deal taking him through until the end of 2012 - Burraston revealed on Wednesday afternoon that the 25-year-old will sever ties with Newcastle.
"Chris has indicated to me that he will be resigning from the Knights sometime this afternoon," Burraston said at an official NRL function at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday.
"He has indicated to me that he'll have further talks with his legal representatives and also his management and will be resigning."
"I've indicated to Chris that we will accept (his resignation), we understand that he's got a huge battle to fight now and his mind just couldn't be around football at that period of time."
"But we will defend his innocence until he's proven guilty, as the system demands that we do, and we'll let the legal process run its course."
Houston became the second Knights player charged with drug offences in just three months after his fellow forward and former housemate Danny Wicks was arrested in December.
While Burraston is confident no other Knights players will be charged as a result of an ongoing police investigation, he admits he cannot be 100 percent certain.
"Hopefully there are no more (players involved), I was hoping there'd be no more after Danny Wicks so I'm not game to say that," he said.
"But I think the period of time we're entering into and the (fact that) court cases are only a few weeks away (indicates) that we're probably getting to some finality with this matter."
Burraston, who spoke directly with Houston after his name was mentioned during Wicks' initial court appearance, admits he was 'extremely shocked' when the well respected forward was charged earlier this week.
"I had a couple of discussions with Chris as I had with several other senior players," he said.
"There was no indication to me that he was in any way involved and secondly Chris Houston, no matter who you talk to from any club or anywhere in rugby league and even from our members and sponsors, is regarded as a really nice, genuine guy."
"So it's a hell of a shock."
Meanwhile, the embattled club boss is confident the club's sponsors and fans will stand firm, and backed the remaining players to rally together when the season gets underway.
"There's two ways we can go here and I'm not a mind reader but certainly it can affect us in a very poor manner, but very often adversity gels a team together and they can come together and produce good things," he said.
"That's what we're hopeful of and at the end of the day we've got a lot of good guys out there so we can't tarnish them with this, and hopefully we'll be right to go against the Bulldogs in a couple of weeks."
Later on Wednesday, Houston explained his reason for quitting the club in a statement.
"I wish to announce that I am voluntarily terminating