2007 Round 5 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs:
Newcastle 23 defeated South Sydney 22.
Newcastle beat South Sydney 23-22 in round five of the 2007 premiership, but it was an unappealing match to watch. Errors were rife in the hot, humid conditions at Bluetongue Stadium on the Central Coast, and completion rates hit all time lows. In the end Newcastle took control of the match in the final twenty minutes to win their first game of their post-Johns era.
Andrew Johns announced his retirement due to a neck injury during the week, and Newcastle looked shell-shocked in the opening half. David Fa'alogo scored first for South Sydney in the 5th minute, marching through some poor missed tackles on the Knights' line. Kurt Gidley evened things up a couple of minute later, thanks to a beautifully time Danny Buderus pass, which put him over from a few metres out. Souths dominated for the rest of the opening period, but remarkably only lead by two points come halftime. Dean Widders forced his way over, from a Clint Newton missed tackle inside the twenty, in the 21st minute (thanks to referee Gavin Badger not penalising a blatent Souths obstruction the tackle prior). But despite barely completing a set, Newcastle struck back through James McManus in the 30th minute - thanks to nice passes by Jarrod Mullen and Brad Tighe along the backline. Kurt Gidley's missed conversion made the score 12-10 to the Rabbitohs.
South Sydney made the scoreline a bit more representative of the game just after halftime when Nigel Vagana crossed from a scrum on Newcastle's 10 metre line just after halftime, running off a sweetly timed David Peachey pass. Joe Williams missed a relatively easy important conversion to leave Souths with only a 6 point lead. Both sides continued to blow chances until Newcastle finally sprung into form. First Brad Tighe forced his way over the line in the 61st minute after a nice backline spread, then Kurt Gidley crossed for his second four minutes later. Jarrod Mullen grubbered ahead, David Peachey attempted to knock the ball, but could only hit it into Gidley, who juggled before regathering and scoring under the posts.
Gidley made it a seven point lead in the 71st minute with a field goal to seal the match, despite a Souths try making it a one point margin after fulltime.
Newcastle were again disappointing as far as polish and completions went, but would be happy with the win nonetheless. Kurt Gidley, Danny Buderus and Cory Paterson were the standouts, displaying plenty of passion in the Knights jersey.
What they said:
Jarrod Mullen:
[On replacing Andrew Johns] "Nah, I'm not sick of his name. It's only right for him to keep getting mentioned, so it doesn't worry me. You know, there was a lot of speculation about having to play without him. But I didn't feel any pressure heading into the game. I know I can perform without him."
"You can do a lot of one-on-ones off the field. But I've learnt mostly from him on it. I've played 25 games with him, so I've picked up a fair bit over the years. I'm sure that will continue, but it won't be the same."
"I'm my own man. I'm my own player."
Danny Buderus:
"It was important for our confidence. It's been an emotional and draining week. Pretty draining because we've had to answer so many questions about him. So it's good to have this win."
"It's just us now. There's no more Joey will be back, is he playing, hasn't he got to be playing. It rests on our shoulders."
[On Kurt Gidley] "He is ready for Origin for sure – he has been one of the form players in the comp. I don't think that five-eighth would be fair on him, to be honest. Utility-wise, you just couldn't get any better at the moment. He is just bobbing up everywhere in attack and it suits the way he plays."
Kurt Gidley:
[On his match-tying try] "I was going for it [the ball], but Peachey got to it first. But he couldn't hold it and I finally got hold of it and got it down."
Brian Smith:
"If you can invent a ball that doesn't become as slippery on humid days as the balls we use, you will make a fortune. We can go to the moon, but we can't do that. You saw one inexperienced guy [Newcastle winger James McManus] make a mistake by dropping the ball with no one on him, but then [Souths fullback] David Peachey, whose handling skills are great, did the same thing. You've got to say there is something wrong with these balls when that happens. On a hot day like today it becomes a battle of attrition."
[On Kurt Gidley's match-tying try] "I can't believe his reactions under the goal posts. It was the difference between winning and losing."
"I think I was ready to wave the white flag. The way we were playing at that time was ugly. At half-time, to be behind by two, I would describe as a minor miracle. Maybe after I watch the video I will convert it into a major miracle. It's not nice."
"A loss might have been another negative that dragged us right down. Then again, you guys need to dwell on it and make the most of it. In Andrew's case, I'm not actually sure you can overkill it. But we are good at getting over things because we have to."
Jason Taylor:
[South's self-detruction] "Yeah, you can probably put it that way. We did a great job in the first half, taking advantage of our opportunities, although we did let one slip. Then we started the second half well, but after that we let Newcastle back in too many times."
"The opposition probably underestimated us a bit in the first few weeks. It's all part of the game, all part of the NRL -- backing up and having to do it week after week. We're still only five weeks in. We're going to win some and lose some. We'll win more than we lose, I hope."