Booed off at half-time, Newcastle rose from the dead to register one of the most remarkable wins in club history over Manly on Thursday night at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Frustrated Knights fans booed their team off at half-time after conceding 16 unanswered points in another uninspiring performance from a club famous for its work ethic.
They wore the same jerseys but the Knights players looked like a different team in the second half in piling on four tries before getting up in extra time when Kalyn Ponga pounced after rookie winger Fletcher Hunt batted back a bomb to cap off a barely believable 26-22 comeback triumph in extra time.
The scoreless first term was the 10th time they had failed to trouble the scorers in a half this season but that was all forgotten by the end of the match with the famous “Newwwcastle, Newwwcastle” chant ringing around the stadium.
It wasn’t quite on par with their famous 1997 ARL grand final win over the same team but the Knights live to fight another day in their push for the playoffs following their epic second-half resurgence.
1. Fed-up fans vent their spleen by booing Knights off
Newcastle have the most loyal fans in the NRL.
They are renowned for sticking by their team through thick and thin, come rain, hail or shine.
And they started to show signs of giving up after the first 40 minutes, booing the team off at half-time to vent their pent-up frustration.
The jeers and the unusually high number of vacant red and blue seats at McDonald Jones Stadium are to be expected when a team shows little imagination in attack and keeps dishing up substandard performances.
“It’s a tough watch. It’s a really tough watch,” said Immortal halfback Andrew Johns from his usual place of great frustration in the Nine commentary box watching his beloved but beleaguered club in the first half.
And then came the late fightback – Thursday night’s win means they have now lifted their record to 5-8 and if other results go their way, they could be just one win outside the top eight at the end of the long weekend.
2. Jeers turn to cheers
The Sea Eagles went into the contest with Tom Trbojevic sidelined for a second straight week to get over his badly corked thigh.
His replacement Lehi Hopoate went close to opening the scoring in the sixth minute but spilled the pill while trying to touch down and was forced off after he was dazed from landing awkwardly.
Manly made amends a short time later when Reuben Garrick sliced through out wide to create a sprint to the line for the NRL’s best third-string fullback Tolu Koula.
The Knights held firm until the 28th minute when a Ben Trbojevic bust was followed by a quick play-the-ball and Tof Sipley crash play over the line.
Olakau’atu skittles three defenders when he plunged over just before half-time and nearly had another as Newcastle were probably lucky to only trail 16-0 at the interval.
Kai Pearce-Paul provided a bright spot amid the gloom five minutes into the second stanza when he broke free near halfway for Fletcher Sharpe to cut the gap to 10.
When rookie Fletcher Hunt soared high to collect a bomb, the Knights were back in the contest and they drew level by the 65th minute when fellow winger James Schiller planted the Steeden down in the corner.
Tommy Talau split the Knights up the middle and the centre backed up on the next play to brush off tired defenders for a 22-16 buffer heading into the final 10 minutes but Sharpe equalised in the 75th minute when he supported Schiller down the sideline.
A last-gasp Luke Brooks field goal attempt faded wide to send the match into extra time.
3. Haumole unstoppable
With a vacancy in the Blues pack created by Warriors prop Mitchell Barnett’s ACL tear, Olakau’atu obliterated any opponent in his path.
He was in the extended squad for game one in Brisbane and could be elevated to the bench with Canterbury’s Max King promoted to the run-in side as Payne Haas’ front-row partner.
“He is just a weapon,” said Blues legend Andrew Johns on Nine commentary.
Olakau’atu rampaged down the right edge 18 times for 201 metres, including 109 post contact, while also racking up a line break, a try and a few near-misses as Knights defenders clung to his colossal frame.
The 26-year-old Tongan international played the first two matches of last year’s Origin series before achieving the unusual feat of getting suspended despite being an unused reserve in game three for his involvement in a sideline brawl.
If Laurie Daley recalls him to the pack for the Perth mission, Olakau’atu can do even more damage within the field of play.
4. Heavy hits cause carnage early
The match was just five minutes old and Tyson Frizell and Hopoate were done for the night.
Frizell stumbled after getting a heavy head knock while attempting a tackle and a short time later Hopoate was being helped off after his putdown gone wrong.
Both players were ruled to have suffered a category-one concussion.
Frizell will miss next week’s homestand against the Roosters while Hopoate will miss the Sea Eagles’ flight north to the Gold Coast.
Newcastle are already missing fellow middle forwards Jacob Saifiti (calf), Jack Hetherington (shoulder), suspended Kiwi prop Leo Thompson, Paul Bryan (shoulder) and Adam Elliott (biceps tear).
5. Mullets making a splash
They don’t realise it now but Fletchers Hunt and Sharpe will one day regret their choice in mullets, just like pretty much every player from the 1980s.
Hairstyles aside, the lookalike young Knights duo have been the shining lights for an otherwise dreary season.
Sharpe’s tally of 10 tries after his double against Manly is four clear of his closest teammate, Dylan Lucas, while Hunt notched the maiden four-pointer of his career in his fourth appearance.
Irrespective of how they finish their 2025 campaign, the Knights need a roster overhaul in the off-season and these two are integral building blocks.
Sharpe had his contract extended back in January until the end of 2028 while Hunt is surprisingly unsigned at season’s end but that should not be the case much longer.
Haumole Olakau’atu. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
The Kick: Ponga’s Maroons spot on the line
Despite scoring the match-winning try when he backed up Hunt’s athletic leap, Ponga for the most part continued his season-long trend of doing enough to get by but nowhere near enough to justify his massive pay packet and his diminishing reputation as one of the NRL’s elite attacking stars.
“He’s got to get more ball. He’s one of the best attacking players in the world. Got to get him more ball,” Johns fumed as Newcastle repeated the same pattern of pedestrian attack that they have displayed ad nauseum all season in their insipid first-half display.
Renowned as a big-game performer, Ponga couldn’t rouse himself out of his form slump for the Maroons in their Origin I loss to NSW.
Queensland coach Billy Slater needs to shake up his line-up for game two on June 18 in Perth and with Reece Walsh returning from his knee injury for the Broncos on Saturday night, he could easily get the jump on Ponga for the Maroons No.1 jersey.
Perhaps the late try will spark something in Ponga which has been largely dormant all season, there could even be hope for Newcastle as well after that amazing comeback.
