Not since Andrew Johns was steering Newcastle around the park have the Knights begun an NRL campaign this well.
Sunday’s dramatic 20-18 victory over Gold Coast at a rain-lashed Robina gave the Knights their third win from as many starts this season, something the club hasn’t achieved since the 2006 season.
It’s also the club’s fifth win in a row, as they won the final two fixtures of the 2014 campaign.
That’s something the Knights haven’t achieved since 2005.
Captain Kurt Gidley believes the run of wins shows something is building at Newcastle.
“We’ve still got areas we can work on but the character and desire, we need to keep those, and the skill we need to work on,” Gidley said.
“We’ve got most of the same guys here (from last year). We’ve got a couple of new fellas … but we’ve got the same group of guys who were playing at the back end of last year, when we were playing well.
“Last year was a tough year but when all the distractions and things were aside and finished with we were playing our best footy.
“We’re not playing our best footy at the moment but we’re never giving up on anything and that’s pretty important.”
History suggests winning the club’s first three matches of the season is the foundation of a solid season.
Since the NRL’s inception in 1998, 32 teams have been 3-0 after round three with four going on to win the premiership, three finishing runners-up and 18 more making finals.
Only six teams since 98 have started a season 3-0 and not finished in the top eight.
After battling their way to that record with back-to-back wins on the road in Queensland against the Titans and North Queensland, Gidley said confidence is high going into next weekend’s home clash with Penrith at Hunter Stadium.
“We knew the opportunity we had this week to go three from three and to go home next week into an important game, second home game of the year, our fans would just love it,” Gidley said.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
Personally I blame bird. Gets away with a blatant cheap shot before giving away a stupid penalty late in the tackle count which leads to a try under the posts.
chris_n
Guest
Souths are the only team I cant see us winning against, unless they have a off day and we play good not saying we will beat all the other teams but will be in with a good chance.
Michael
Guest
They're not pretty wins, but they're wins regardless. What I'm proud of is the heart shown, not giving up and doing everything to pull out the win. It's not something that can be coached, you can't train for it over the week; it just comes naturally. Historically we're strong finishers so sitting pretty at 3-0 will do a world of good come September. Furthermore winning these games, ones that we probably should have lost, is the difference between finishing 8th or 9th, 4th or 5th. It's a long way off, but I have enough faith that our attack will sharpen up and we'll be strong at the right end of the season. We may not beat Souths, Roosters later in the season or Penrith next week, but I think we'll take it to them and keep the games close and highly enjoyable.
The Barry
Roar Guru
In the last 8 years, 80% of teams that start 3-0 go on to make the semis. Over those 8 years, the premier has had a 3-0 start 37.5% of the time. You definitely should be happy to be 3-0.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
Not sure a dubious try in the 17th minute can ever honestly be blamed for a loss.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
I honestly didn't even see that one. I watched the game, but it was so bad that there were long periods where it was mostly background noise. From what I hear though it was just as bad as The one on thurston but it was just the one off act unlike the tactics used against thurston. Happy to hear I'm wrong about it because like I said, I watched the game but it was mostly background noise while I was watching the paint dry.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
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The eye
Guest
Ask Chris Heighington about karma,blokes been peeing blood from a late tackle by Bronco Maguire..who unfortunately got knocked out on Friday night..
E-Meter
Guest
Add in a try that clearly wasn't and that was enough to get them over the line. Disgraceful decision.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
I think that's because many people regard what happened as karma. Tbh (and I'm not proud of this btw) I laughed when I looked at the replays because I brought this up just last week. I believe the line was "we'll see what happens when Mullen breaks down from these illegal tactics" or something along those lines. What I didn't get was why they couldn't give the ball back to Newcastle. Teams have played through an entire set before with advantage granted by the refs (hodges late spear tackle on a parra player springs to mind where they played out a whole set in brisbanes 20 before going back to something that happened on parras 40) but they couldn't take the game back one play in this instance?
chrisn
Guest
The knights have not been playing pretty but showing plenty of heart think rick stone summed it up best the wins have been more will than skill . Pretty happy to be 3 from 3 when not playing that well .
Kirk
Guest
Well the Titans can thank Greg Bird and Mortimer for losing that one for them. Mortimer kicks out on the full twice late in the second half. Bird giving away hes usual dumb penalties.
The eye
Guest
They grounded it out really well,few injuries late Gagai,Scott,BJ didn't look 100%,Mullen and following a hard road trip with another away game,couple of poor penalties..very hard earnt 2 points..Stones looked to have pulled the right rein after all with Gids and Sionne..Tariq will lift this side a notch higher in a fortnight...Titans went really well,poor old Morts couldn't take a trick..
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Like Baz, I would like to see the Knights come up against some quality opposition. They did finish the season strongly last year and it probably has a lot to do with Mullen being injury free and settling in. This year they have also ditched all the dramas from last season, such as their ownership issues, Bennett' impending departure, Boyd's off-field issues and, of course, Alex McKinnon's injury. It's also good to see that they've cleared a lot of the older blokes they had in the squad and are building nicely for the future. The Knights seem like one of those clubs that seems to lift the whole League when they are doing well.
The Barry
Roar Guru
It will be interesting to see the Knights come up against one of the top ranked sides. They look in good nick but their wins have been against teams struggling for form.
Mark SCOTT
Guest
Isnt it amazing how much one week can make. Last week Jonothan Thurston got hit late and it got headlines for the whole week. There were calls for Beau Scott's head. Jarrod Mullen gets hit late from behind this week by Greg Bird and it does not even get a mention in the media. It looks like the "Koala's" of the NRL still hold the balance of power with the media.