2006 Round 22 vs Sydney Roosters:
Newcastle 32 defeated Sydney 18.
The Knights made light work of the Sydney Roosters for 26 minutes of their Round 22 clash, but clocked off early to let a 24-0 lead reduce itself to a 32-18 victory on the Central Coast.
Newcastle looked invincible for most of the first half, but just when Sydney looked on the verge of capitulation, the Knights took their foot off the pedal, and let the Roosters outscore them 18-8 in the final 50 minutes of the match.
Things got off to a super start for the red and blues, with Andrew Johns putting Steve Simpson into a gaping hole in his own half. Simpson made a long run, before linking up with Danny Buderus, who showed good evasion to cover the last 15 metres to the tryline. Andrew Johns converted, and after one set of 6, Newcastle lead 6-0.
Newcastle continued their assualt, and Johns added another try to his collection in the 11th minute, when he dummied and crossed from short range. The easy conversion was successful, and Newcastle rocked on to a 12-0 lead.
Chris Bailey, called up for the injured Jarrod Mullen, was the benefactor of an Andrew Johns bomb in the 15th minute. Johns bombed from the right hand side of the field, off the inside of his boot, and Bailey cleaned up the ball after Iosia Soliola fumbled the kick, close to the posts. John again converted, making the score 18-0.
Just to stop Johns having all the fun, Danny Buderus chipped in with a well-timed pass to Luke Davico in the 26th minute, and Davico had no troubles crossing from short-range. Davico, in his thirteenth match for Newcastle, scored his first four-pointer for the Knights. Again Johns converted, making the score 24-0.
As has been the case countless times in the last 5 years though, with their foot on the throat - Newcastle relaxed. The Roosters began their comeback with a try to fullback Shaun Foley in the 34th minute. Josh Lewis chip-kicked towards the posts, a Knights player fumbled, and despite an apparent knock-on by Foley, he regathered and was awarded the try. Fitzgibbon converted from in front, and Sydney reduced the score to a 24-6 deficit.
Andrew Johns kicked a penalty on the stroke of halftime to make it 26-6 at the break, and it was the Knights who scored first after halftime to shut-out the match. Following a long break by Milton Thaiday (resulting in Brett Finch holding down in the tackle and being sinbinned) Danny Buderus found Riley Brown on the short-side from close range, and he was able to cross very easily. Brown did well in his first match since Round 18, and Johns converted from the sideline to maintain his perfect record.
But it was the Roosters who finished off the stronger, with two more tries before fulltime. Sa gave an inside ball to Iosia Soliola in the 65th minute, and Soliolo made his way across the line fairly easily. Then a good Brett Finch grubber from 40 metres out found Ryan Cross 20 metres out, and Cross had the pace to get to the line (despite a last ditch tackle by Brian Carney which removed Cross' shorts and underwear).
Newcastle would have been happy with the win, but they missed out on a chance to improve their vital for and against. They would need an improvement to take on Manly the following Friday night. The Roosters put in a disappointing performance, after a red-hot thrashing of the North Queensland Cowboys the week previous.
What they said:
Andrew Johns:
"The first half was the prototype of how we want to be playing. (But) I think that we are still 10 per cent behind the Bulldogs and the Storm. Melbourne's backline is incredibly slick while the Bulldogs forwards are pure power. I think we are still a fair way away from them - but I think that we are building toward something."
"I guarantee if we get (to the finals), we won't choke."
Michael Hagan:
"I'm not disappointed at any stage given that we were pretty clinical in the first 40 minutes and we were without two front-rowers [Davico with a strained quadriceps and Craig Smith with a possible broken jaw] for certainly the last 30 minutes of the game."
Ricky Stuart:
"[On Andrew Johns] He still got us with a number of the plays we defended against and spoke about during the week. He makes it very difficult, he played a very intelligent game of football today and with the momentum they had it makes it awfully tough. He's very hard to coach against."