I am a Newcastle Knights supporter and I decided to go a bit nostalgic by sharing my ten favourite matches in the history of the club.
There is a loss in this list, but as it was such a great match, I have no shame in adding it.
10. Round 2, 1988 – Newcastle Knights 20-16 Western Suburbs Magpies
This was the first ever win for the Newcastle Knights after suffering a 28-4 loss to Parramatta Eels. Brian Quinton scored the club’s first try.
9. Semi-final, 1992 – St George Dragons 3-2 Newcastle Knights
Both teams had stellar defence, and after Knights winger Tony Herman was denied a try for double movement, Dragons five-eighth Peter Coyne’s short-range field goal was the difference. It was two points apiece at half-time with each team kicking a penalty goal in the first half, the Dragons’ goal-kicker was Ian Herron and the Knights’ goal-kicker was John Schuster.
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8. Round 10, 2004 – Newcastle Knights 17-16 Brisbane Broncos
This was the Knights second victory against the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium and their third victory at the venue. This is also the Knights’ first ever golden point victory and halfback Kurt Gidley kicked the match-winning field goal.
7. Round 22, 2014 – Newcastle Knights 32-30 Melbourne Storm
Talk about a modern classic, Melbourne had scored the first two tries of the match and looked set to tear away with the result but the Knights stood their ground. With three minutes to go after Cameron Smith missed the conversion of Sisa Waqa’s fourth try, the Knights were down by ten with three to go, 30-20.
Travis Waddell produced a very sneaky one-on-one strip against Billy Slater in front of the Storm’s try line with two to go, and scored underneath the post to put the Knights within a converted try, 30-26.
On the final play of the match, the Knights spread the ball across the field, left to right, inside Melbourne’s 20 and Akuila Uate scored in the right corner. Kurt Gidley was given a tough task for the match-winning conversion from the right sideline and he did not disappoint as he nailed it. The Knights stole the match, 32-30. I can’t leave out how funny it was when the players jumped on Gidley afterwards, that was totally random.
6. Round 1, 1994 – Newcastle Knights 43-14 South Sydney Rabbitohs
This was the first run-on match for Andrew Johns, who scored 23 points in this game. He scored two tries, kicked seven out of eight goals (87.50%) and slotted a field goal.
5. Round 21, 2001 – Newcastle Knights 54-26 Canberra Raiders
In this match, Johns scored a club equalling four tries in one match and a record making 34 points. Johns became the seventh halfback to score four tries in one game, tying the record and scoring the most points in one match by a halfback. He also kicked nine out of nine conversions.
4. Preliminary final, 1997 – Newcastle Knights 17-12 North Sydney Bears
This match was an absolute classic. Johns was unable to return after half-time due to injury but the Knights hung in there and came away with the win to put them in the grand final.
What most don’t seem to remember is Bears fullback Matthew Seers making a linebreak ten metres from the Bears’ try line, Darren Albert making a fantastic try-saving tackle after bolting from the other side of the field.
3. Round 23, 1999 – Newcastle Knights 60-0 South Sydney Rabbitohs
This is the biggest victory in the history of the Newcastle Knights and took place right at home in Newcastle, a great treat for the home fans. Mark Hughes bagged himself a hat trick, Andrew Johns and Robbie O’Davis scored themselves doubles and the other tries were scored by Danny Buderus, Adam MacDougall and Bill Peden. Johns kicked eight out of eight and the other two goals were kicks by Owen Craigie.
2. Grand final, 2001 – Newcastle Knights 30-24 Parramatta Eels
The Knights won their second grand final after securing a 24-0 lead at half-time. In the second half, Parramatta did make a good comeback but Timana Tahu’s try in the second half was the difference.
1. Grand final, 1997 – Newcastle Knights 22-16 Manly Sea Eagles
This is the first premiership won by the Knights after fighting back from a 16-8 deficit at half-time. In the 57th minute, Johns kicked a penalty goal to put them within a converted try, 16-10. In the 75th minute, fullback Robbie O’Davis scored his second try of the match underneath the posts and it was converted by Johns to make it 16 apiece.
In the final 25 seconds, Johns attempted a field goal but it was charged down and Knights centre Mark Hughes picked the ball and passed it to Darren Albert, who got tackled, giving the Knights a fresh set. Johns put himself at dummy half, dummy passed to his brother Matthew, ran down the short side, dummied to Hughes, stepped on the inside, took the tackle from Manly centre Craig Innes and offloaded to Albert, who scored the match-winning try with six seconds left to go.
Talk about a suspenseful thriller, it’s the kind of thriller you see in movies based on books by Stephen King.
This is my top ten Newcastle Knights matches and I hope you enjoyed reading the list.
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