The committed Newcastle Knights have outlasted the Manly Sea Eagles 18-10 in the closing match of Indigenous round.
Ill discipline hurt the Sea Eagles, losing Sean Keppie and Martin Taupau to the sin bin. Manly were also on the wrong end of a whopping 9-0 penalty count. They received their first penalty, with the sin binning of David Klemmer, in the final minute.
This will only add to the frustration for coach Des Hasler, whose team failed to reach the heights achieved last weekend.
It was clear early that the Sea Eagles were in for a tough afternoon. Newcastle started the match with plenty of purpose and it was only early errors that denied them the first strike.
After a Phoenix Crossland kick rolled dead, the Sea Eagles scored against the run of play with ten minutes gone. Daly Cherry-Evans put Kane Lawton into a big gap. He found Brad Parker backing up on the outside and Manly were on the board first.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Their second try, 15 minutes before the break, also came against the run of play. Lachlan Fitzgibbon knocked on with his side on attack. Jason Saab was the first to swoop and no one was going to run him down on a 80-metre run to the line. With the conversion successful, Manly led 10-0.
The game swung minutes later. Back-to-back penalties gave the Knights field position. Crossland took the last-tackle kick but was hit high and late by Sean Keppie. Keppie was sent to the sin bin with eight minutes left in the half.
From the resulting penalty, some slick work from Connor Watson and Enari Tuala resulted in a Starford To’a try in the corner.
Watson was involved again five minutes later with a terrific face ball to Sauaso Sue, who dived in under the posts. Incredibly, by halftime, the Knights had established a 12-10 lead.
The Knights were running with a strong breeze in the first half. The expectation was that the Sea Eagles, with more possession and a superior kicking game, would wear the Knights down.
However, the wind eased and the Knights’ forwards just kept on making big metres. Unlike the footy we have seen this season, this was a tough, grinding variety of NRL.
Taupau was sin binned with just over 20 minutes remaining and you could sense Newcastle’s belief was growing. The Taupau ruling was a strange one, given he was hurled out the back of the collision with Daniel Saifiti, but it was a shoulder to the head.
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
The Knights forwards were winning the middle and Crossland was bombing to Saab repeatedly. Although Tom Trbojevic tried to make an impact, the Newcastle defence was too good.
With two minutes to go, the Knights scored the first points of the second half to secure the win. Jayden Brailey dummied right and found Daniel Saifiti behind the ruck. He was too strong for the defence. The 18-10 scoreline gave Newcastle one of their more courageous wins in recent seasons.
It may well also prove a turning point in their season, with Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann to return shortly. If their forward pack can maintain the same type of resolve they showed today, they could yet force their way into the top eight.
Best players
Three points: Connor Watson was Newcastle’s best, having a hand in two of the Knights’ tries and being the focal point for the attack all afternoon. In a low-scoring match, his input was key.
Two points: The Knights’ starting front row of David Klemmer and Daniel Saifiti were very good this afternoon but Saifiti’s late try edges him in front. The Newcastle pack has copped some flak over the past few weeks but Saifiti was close to the best on the ground today.
One point: Mitchell Barnett has become one of the Knights’ most consistent players and he was there again this afternoon. Other than a large number of damaging hit ups, he played a lot of second receiver against the Sea Eagles, moving the Knights forward.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Very good points. The Boys were not disciplined and killers in the way they played. They blew it. That was a game they should have won, but they fell apart. A great shame. On paper they have some winnable games coming up in a row, but they need to step up like men, particularly with Jurbo and Turbo picked in the Origen side.
Monorchid
Roar Rookie
Agreed HY. In retrospect, I thought that the tide turned against Manly with the half time score. The Knights gradually took possession of the game from then on. I don't think losing a couple of players to the bin is an excuse. These players are paid a lot of money to know how to stay on the field. I don't subscribe to the comments about Cummins. I thought he ran a good game against - what's the word? - ah, yes, boofheads. Manly lost a game they should have won.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! Seems Adam O'Brien's finer points of "game management" education at the Storm was not completely wasted !
Tom G
Roar Rookie
I agree totally that Manly were ill disciplined throughout the game but the notion of Newcastle being perfect up until 11 seconds from time is a joke. Cummins refereed one side all game and wasn’t even subtle about it.
Nambawan
Roar Rookie
Agree.
Hard Yards
Roar Rookie
Newcastle were the better team on the field. A couple Manly players, who are professionals and know the score, did dumb things that had them sent from the field. Thanks a million guys, you really improved the side's strength. Boofheads. The Knights were in it from the start and played with a level head. Without wanting to take anything away from them, I noticed the officials stopped the game to let tired Newcastle players saunter from the field which allowed plenty of time regroup and catch some air. Is this a new rule? But despite that, the reality is that Manly were rattled and blew it.
Kramer
Guest
I thought Manly were definitely the worst when came to discipline between the 2 teams but boy did Newcastle slow the play the ball down and not get one penalty against them, they were also offside as well a fair bit. It was a terrible game and even though I didn’t have a dog in this fight it just stunk to high heaven. I agree with the cracking down on the high tackles as long as they are consistent but now the fundamentals are not being watched, offside, slowing the ruck etc. All in all the game is an absolute mess at the moment.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
The poor discipline could be attributed to the other factors i think. After 20 minutes Manly barely saw the ball. The notion that Newcastle played a perfectly disciplined game up until seconds from the final hooter is farcical.
Nambawan
Roar Rookie
This match was a schemozzle - because of so many interruptions/stoppages, lop sided penalty count. Particularly vexing was the number of occasions play was stopped to allow Newcastle trainers to attend to players whilst Manly were in posession. Not also to mention too much poor discipline by some Manly players.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Late in the game , DCE threw a long pass to Garrick who made a break down field but had no support at all. Suli was in the frame outside him and fresh but he never entered the picture again. It's not real flash. I keep on hearing the commentators complain about the enforcement of the crusher tackle. ''where was he meant to go'' is the war cry. When a player is tackled and effectively sitting on the ground, the answer to the above question, is go anywhere else except jumping on top of his head. Use the arms on his shoulders is one of many acceptable options. If the NRL follow the commentators instructions , someone will get a permanent injury and the game will be sued for millions.
David Holden
Roar Guru
Strange in that play was allowed to go on after the tackle, only to backtrack 50 metres or so to award a penalty. I have no issues with the sin bin decision in today’s environment.
PeterCtheThird
Guest
I wonder why you describe a sin-binning for a shoulder to the head as “a strange decision.”
souvalis
Roar Rookie
It was great seeing the Knights bring back the heart. Very well assessed David you got the best 3 players. Thought Crossland deserved a noisier round of applause though, he led the side around the park exceptionally for a relative rookie and had his finest hour so far in the NRL. Shake your head stuff from the Dally M voter: Dally M votes: 3 - Tyson Frizell, 2 - Daniel Saifiti, 1 - Daly Cherry-Evans. Judge: Chris Heighington. As you said Watson was a stand out, Heighington didn't rate him, sigh.