2007 Round 8 vs Bulldogs:
Bulldogs 30 defeated Newcastle 16.
Newcastle went into their round eight clash with the Bulldogs with an inexperienced side due to injuries and City-Country commitments, but emerged with some credit. Indeed, the result may have been different if not for a bizarre decision by Stephen Clark to sinbin Kade Snowden. The incident barely warranted a penalty, but it gave the Bulldogs the upper-hand, and enabled them to build up a 24-0 lead. Newcastle didn’t throw in the towel, however, as they may have done in the past, and fought back to end up losing 30-16.
Reni Maitua crossed for a simple try in the fourth minute, but the score remained constant until the 29th minute and the sinbinning of Snowden. The resulting penalty gave the Bulldogs the field position to repeat the easy try through Luke Patten.
A great Sonny Bill Williams offload and a equally good pass by Reni Maitua saw Hazem El Masri score right after halftime, and Matt Utai found enough space to score in the 48th minute, extending the Bulldog’s lead to 24-0.
To their credit the Knights fought back well. Danny Buderus forced his way over for a good dummy-half try in the 53rd minute, and then James McManus converted a backline spread into points in the 58th minute when he scored.
The Bulldogs replied when Willie Mason offloaded to Luke Patten, who raced up the middle of the field to score in the 67th minute, but the Knights had the last laugh when Cory Paterson ran off a beautiful Kurt Gidley pass to cross with a few minutes left.
Given the lack of troops for Newcastle, it wasn’t the worst defeat that the club has suffered. Several young-guns could be pleased with their performance – deputy fullback Steve Gordon, Cory Paterson, James McManus, Kade Snowden and Michael Young amongst them.
What they said:
Brian Smith:
[On the young players] "You can talk about it but there's nothing like doing it."
[On Jarrod Mullen playing origin] "There isn't a more pressured position in rugby league (to be NSW halfback in a Brisbane Origin game)."
Steve Simpson:
"We're not giving up these days – in the past we would have let them put 40 or 50 points on us. That's a thing of the past."
Reni Maitua:
"We pride ourselves on being ruthless. We just seem to lack concentration during times in games. It seems we are always letting teams back into matches. I thought Newcastle scored two soft tries today and you just can't afford to do that."