2007 Trial vs Cronulla Sutherland Sharks:
Newcastle 12 defeated Cronulla Sutherland 10.
Andrew Johns pulled out before kick-off, but Newcastle was still able to pip Cronulla at the post to win their second trial 12-10.
Johns missed his homecoming to Cessnock with a strained hamstring, but the 4600-strong crowd still saw a Knights win (although they were hampered on that front by less than full-strength lighting). Cronulla took a 10-0 lead into the break after tries to Ben Pomeroy and Greg Bird. And that was how it stayed until the final minutes of the game. Cronulla relaxed, and Adam Woolnough powered over for individual tries in the 75th minute, and again with only 20 seconds remaining. Daniel Abraham landed both simple conversions to seal the victory.
It was not a convincing performance by Newcastle, however, as they struggled in attack for most of the match. The slippery conditions lead to poor ball handling by both sides, but Cronulla would have have rights to feel more pleased than Newcastle with their performance. Brett Kimmorley played well in the first half, and Newcastle scored their points in the second half, once most of Cronulla's top side had been benched.
The big plus to come out of the night for Newcastle was the performance of Terence Seu Seu, who virtually sealed a round one spot in first grade, with an exceptional display. The young hooker came straight from Jersey Flegg in 2006, but impressed in the top side first up in 2007.
What they said:
Andrew Johns:
[On his hamstring injury] "It's a worry. I haven't run for two weeks. I wanted to have a hit-out before the competition but I would like to think I know my way around a football field by now. Hopefully I'll be right to play (in round one)."
"I trained all week. I was a bit sore and the coach just said 'If you do it again you could miss the start of the season'. The coach just did not want to risk it."
[On missing his final chance top play in Cessnock] "I'm bitterly disappointed. I'm shattered because I pushed that hard to try and play and knew it would be my last chance to play in my hometown. It is a trial match but sentimental value it would have been great to play in my hometown.
Brian Smith:
[On Johns' injury] "He came to training with his kit but I could see he didn't feel like he'd be right. There's so much more ahead for him, there was no way I was going to let him play."
[On the Knight's performance] "Embarrassing. At one stage I thought we were going to have to pay the electricity bill before we scored a try. There's a truckload of improvement in us, [but] they could have easily parked the bus - at one stage, I was about to park it for them. But they kept fighting.
"Whatever it is we start with, it ain't going to be the same within two or three weeks, you can bet your life."
Brett Kimmorley:
"In the first half we played really well. I think we bombed about five or six tries. Even though we haven't scored many points, from what we have shown, we can improve on it."
Ricky Stuart:
"I spoke to Noddy [Kimmorley] before the game, and said I wanted to get to half-time and be happy with the first 40 minutes, and then I wanted to rest some individuals, and we did that. We used up 30 players - we used a number of players who were in our Premier League game. It's good for them to get a bit of first-grade experience, because you never know when you're going to need to call upon them. There's improvement there, but we're going forward."