Bulldogs 16
Knights 20
This was supposed to have been a walk in the park for the Dogs.
It was the clash of the former villains against the new transgressors. The Bulldogs cleansed their slate after the player behaviour excesses of a few years ago but Newcastle have yet to right their ship after
a horror off-field start to the year.
Two forwards, Danny Wicks and Chris Houston, were terminated after being charged with drugs offences - resulting in Newcastle making more headlines in recent weeks than their on-field exploits have in years. Add to that injuries to inspirational captain Kurt Gidley and Adam MacDougall and the Knights' prospects looked decidedly bleak.
Last year it was Manly who showed how off-the-field upsets could translate into early-season defeats that effectively submerged their title hopes.
But they breed them tough in Newcastle. Sometimes such reverses can bring a team closer together and big prop Ben Cross typified the Knights' resolve with some thunderous charges early on; the springboard from which the Knights launched themselves at the Bulldogs.
They threatened from their first set of six and scored from the next when former Warrior Cooper Vuna plucked a deft kick from Scott Dureau out of the air.
Without Gidley, Jarrod Mullen and Dureau had the responsibility of steering the Knights around the field and both responded well. It was a long Mullen kick which saw the Dogs caught behind their own line and the Knights worked the ball to Fijian winger Akuila Uate, whose slippery footwork embarrassed replacement winger Heka Nanai (playing instead of the injured try-scorer Bryson Goodwin).
Wes Naiqama added the goal and it was suddenly the no-hopers 10 points up on the no-ideas.
The Bulldogs have not been the greatest of defenders in recent times but have masked that with an effective offence. But the Knights tackled doggedly and the Bulldog fudged their sets of six and looked surprisingly dull on attack.
They came close in one raid, but the Knights easily worked the ball upfield and a bomb from Dureau saw Corey Paterson outleap Jamal Idris and Vuna's pass put Kiwis centre Junior Sau over for a 16-point lead at halftime.
Sau was off tending to a chest injury when, short of numbers, the Knights were exposed by a pinpointe grubber from Ben Roberts for the speedy Josh Morris to score.
It was a false dawn. A Brett Kimmorley inside pass went to ground, lock Mark Taufua picked up and sprinted through a crowd of 'frozen statues' Bulldogs, cantering 60m to the line with only Idris chasing him.
The Bulldogs pressed hard but scoring proved elusive until winger Steve Turner benefited from some snappy passing to slide in at the corner.
At 20-8 down, the Dogs still had a sniff as Newcastle tired, and a Kimmorley shimmy and pass saw Turner corner-flagging again. However - and it was that kind of night for the Dogs - new kicker Michael Ennis reminded everyone of the loss of Hazem el Masri by missing all three conversion attempts.
Morris scored another after terrific work by replacement Ben Barba and a thrilling finish saw Knights fullback Shannon McDonnell make a superb, match-saving gather after an Idris kick and chase.
But a Bulldogs win would have been an injustice.
Bulldogs 16 (J. Morris 2, S. Turner 2, tries), Knights 20 (C. Vuna, A. Uate, J. Sau, M. Taufua tries, W. Naiqama 2 goals). HT: 0-16.
