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They made the finals last season despite scoring the second-fewest points in the competition (470, at 19.5 per game) and have found it even harder to get across the line in 2025.
Before Sunday’s defeat they had scored one try in their previous two games – a 26-6 loss to Gold Coast followed by a 20-0 shut-out against Canterbury.
It took them until the last minute to put points on the board, when five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe scored a scrappy try after the Tigers failed to clean up a grubber kick. It was the Knights’ first try in 166 minutes of game time.
By the time half-time sounded, with the Tigers leading 14-0, Newcastle had not scored a try for more than two hours.
“There’s a combination of things with the attack,” Knights coach Adam O’Brien said.
“There’s concentration errors, which put pressure on you and can create the ‘yips’ for some.
“So we found ourselves in a situation where we completed our first nine sets, but we didn’t throw a lot of footy at them in that time.
“There was a bit of fatigue in the game, and we just didn’t fire any bullets because we’ve been so fixated on our completion rates.
“So we need to get the balance. We need to understand what our best attacking footy looks like.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the 18th minute when they created a right-edge overlap and winger Sunia Turuva crashed over in the corner.
Nine minutes later, Starford To’a brushed past a flimsy attempted tackle from Bradman Best to score his fifth try of the season.
When Jahream Bula scored in the 33rd minute from a grubber and chase, the Tigers had raced to a 14-0 lead, leaving a bumper home crowd of 25,960 shellshocked.
Early in the second half, Knights centre Dane Gagai lashed out in a tackle from To’a and both were sent to the sin-bin.
The Tigers scored another try when it was 12 on 12, spinning the ball to their left edge in the 58th minute for centre Adam Doueihi to score.
That left the toothless Knights, who to that point had not looked like scoring, to chase a 20-0 deficit.
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The result ended the Tigers’ seven-game, four-year losing streak at the hands of Newcastle.
The only highlight for Newcastle was the debut of prop Tyrone Thompson, who joined his twin brother Leo in the starting pack.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
They made the finals last season despite scoring the second-fewest points in the competition (470, at 19.5 per game) and have found it even harder to get across the line in 2025.
Before Sunday’s defeat they had scored one try in their previous two games – a 26-6 loss to Gold Coast followed by a 20-0 shut-out against Canterbury.
It took them until the last minute to put points on the board, when five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe scored a scrappy try after the Tigers failed to clean up a grubber kick. It was the Knights’ first try in 166 minutes of game time.
By the time half-time sounded, with the Tigers leading 14-0, Newcastle had not scored a try for more than two hours.
“There’s a combination of things with the attack,” Knights coach Adam O’Brien said.
“There’s concentration errors, which put pressure on you and can create the ‘yips’ for some.
“So we found ourselves in a situation where we completed our first nine sets, but we didn’t throw a lot of footy at them in that time.
“There was a bit of fatigue in the game, and we just didn’t fire any bullets because we’ve been so fixated on our completion rates.
“So we need to get the balance. We need to understand what our best attacking footy looks like.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the 18th minute when they created a right-edge overlap and winger Sunia Turuva crashed over in the corner.
Nine minutes later, Starford To’a brushed past a flimsy attempted tackle from Bradman Best to score his fifth try of the season.
When Jahream Bula scored in the 33rd minute from a grubber and chase, the Tigers had raced to a 14-0 lead, leaving a bumper home crowd of 25,960 shellshocked.
Early in the second half, Knights centre Dane Gagai lashed out in a tackle from To’a and both were sent to the sin-bin.
The Tigers scored another try when it was 12 on 12, spinning the ball to their left edge in the 58th minute for centre Adam Doueihi to score.
That left the toothless Knights, who to that point had not looked like scoring, to chase a 20-0 deficit.
Loading
The result ended the Tigers’ seven-game, four-year losing streak at the hands of Newcastle.
The only highlight for Newcastle was the debut of prop Tyrone Thompson, who joined his twin brother Leo in the starting pack.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
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