The Sydney Roosters have jagged a 12-8 win over a depleted Newcastle outfit, however the victory didn’t come without its controversy at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Despite missing four stars to Origin duty on top of losing Egan Butcher and Victor Radley to head knocks — for Radley, it was the seventh concussion of his career — the Tricolours held firm in a dour affair in the Hunter.
Both sides sizzled during the last Origin-affected round, Newcastle dismantling Penrith just hours before the Roosters put 40 on Cronulla at Central Coast Stadium.
However it was a tale of two halves for Newcastle last weekend against Manly, booed off after trailing 16-0, only to snare a thrilling 26-22 victory in golden point.
Despite only losing one player to Origin duties compared to the Roosters’ four, the Knights lost Fletcher Sharpe to a calf niggle the day before the game, a monster blow on the eve of such an integral clash.
But even if the bookmakers had them installed as massive underdogs, they certainly didn’t know it, crossing for the opener just three minutes into the contest.
A break from Dylan Lucas down the middle left the Chooks scrambling, a quick play-the-ball swinging the ball out left to Jack Cogger, before finding rookie centre Kyle McCarthy to dive over for his first NRL try.
Headliners were writing themselves as game geared up, Jackson Hastings recalled for his first game in the top grade since Round 20 last season, while Dom Young ran out in Roosters’ colours for potentially the last time.
After some back and forth between the clubs, Young is expected to rejoin Newcastle on Monday after a subpar 18 months in Bondi, with head coach Trent Robinson confirming the move post-match.
“I think that’ll all be cleared up tomorrow (Sunday). I don’t know if it’s for me to say, but it’s pretty clear he’ll be up here from Monday.”
The lanky Englishman wasn’t a Knight yet though, continually threatening down the right edge outside a dynamic Mark Nawaqanitawase.
The tricolours couldn’t hold the footy early in the piece, dropping a number of offloads to keep Newcastle on the prowl for points.
They would’ve found them immediately if it wasn’t for a few insane efforts from skipper James Tedesco, the former Blues’ fullback saving three tries in two minutes to keep the Chooks in the contest.
Tedesco stopped Brodie Jones and Kai Pearce-Paul just metres out from the line in consecutive sets, before scooping up a grubber just moments before McCarthy to deny the centre an early double.
While the defence stopped the scoreboard ticking over, it didn’t help the Roosters get on it – recalled half Sandon Smith struggling to find any cohesion in the first-half.
Smith was set to be dropped to the bench for the returning Sam Walker when teams were named earlier in the week, only for the halfback to break his thumb at training, and open the door for Sandon’s recall.
Just nine days after being booed off at half-time, Newcastle fans rewarded their side with a standing ovation at the break, just the third time this season the club has held an opposition scoreless in the first-half, and the fifth time they’ve led after 40 minutes.
Despite only leading 6-0 at the break, it was an incredible effort from a side fielding just 26 NRL games across their entire bench.
Egan Butcher found himself in the limelight for all the wrong reasons early in the second stanza, firstly bundled into touch by Hastings and Pearce-Paul before being pinged for taking out a chaser minutes later.
The back-rower nudged fill-in fullback Fletcher Hunt, extending Newcastle’s lead to eight on the back of a penalty goal.
James Schiller looked to have pulled his side further in front after an acrobatic effort in corner, however replays found the winger had clearly dropped the footy whilst leaping through the air.
“Super proud. Young footy team, a lot of them locals, we debuted our eighth guy for the year. Really, really proud.”
Newcastle are expected to welcome back the likes of Bradman Best, Jacob Saifiti, Fletcher Sharpe, Tyson Frizell and possibly Dom Young next week ahead of their must-win clash against the Dolphins in Perth.
TERRIFIC TEDDY A TRIPLE TRY-SAVER
James Tedesco may have been dropped from the NSW Blues set-up last season, but if Dylan Edwards did ever go down, there’s zero doubt on who fills his boots.
The Roosters’ captain was in everything on Saturday night, setting up Foketi’s four-pointer and running over 200 metres yet again for his side, but it was his defence midway through the first-half that stood out.
Short-balls to both Jones and Pearce-Paul left both looking like $1.01 chances to score, only for Tedesco to stop both forwards dead in their tracks just metres before the line. Add in his save on Cogger’s grubber to deny McCarhty a minute later, and it’s a true captains knock.
Tedesco was quick to palm off the credit to his teammates after the clash.
“That’s my job as a fullback.
“It looked like me, but the boys in front slowed them down. That’s my job, we work hard on it, organising the line and saving tries.
“Toops (Daniel Tupou) had one too in the corner which. In these sort of games, you need those big plays to win games.”
FLETCHER OUT, FLETCHER UP
You couldn’t blame Newcastle fans for writing their side off after the enigmatic Fletcher Sharpe was ruled with a calf complaint yesterday.
While Sharpe has clearly been Newcastle’s best this year, notching 10 tries, it was his replacement in Fletcher Hunt that made a fist of his first NRL game at the back.
Signing a new deal with the club through the week, Hunt was safe as houses at the back, forced a line drop-out early on and attacked everything that came his way.
Coach Adam O’Brien was proud of Hunt’s efforts at the back, especially after only delivering the news to the rookie just over 24 hours prior to the clash.
“He handled it really well.
“We gave Fletcher Sharpe right up until the captains run, and told Hunty he’d be going back to fullback, and he said ‘yep sweet.’
“He held his own, and he’s not the only one.”
HASTINGS STANDS TALL IN NRL RETURN
Jackson Hastings’ NRL career looked all but over in Newcastle a few weeks ago, failing to even make the reserves of a side anchored to the bottom of the table.
Having been outcast to NSW Cup since Round 20 last season, the $800,000 per season half had almost certainly played his final game for the club, however Hastings made a fist of his first NRL game in 11 months.
The No. 6 ran for just shy of 100 metres and made 26 tackles in his return, reforming his combination with Pearce-Paul and adding a new dimension to Newcastle’s right edge.
