Good luck, Dylan Brown.
The man entrusted with sparking Newcastle’s attack may need to be a miracle worker on the evidence of Newcastle’s 20-4 loss to Wests Tigers at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
Brown, the Parramatta playmaker who has signed with the Knights for the next 10 years on a deal reportedly worth up to $14 million, will be worth every cent if he can figure out how to unlock his new team’s insipid offence.
There were no such problems for the Tigers, who showed a willingness to move the ball as they roared back to life following consecutive defeats, much to the delight of coach Benji Marshall.
“That game, in the context of our season, was really important – to go three and three, after back-to-back losses,” Marshall said.
“To come to a place like Newcastle on a Sunday – sold out and with how loud their crowd are – it’s actually really tough to play.”
Although disappointed the Tigers conceded in the last minute when a clean sheet beckoned, Marshall was pleased with his side’s defensive effort, saying: “I’ve got to give credit to the boys, especially defensively, for going after the game.”
The Tigers celebrate a Sunia Turuva try.Credit: Getty Images
Pleased as Marshall was, teams have not found it difficult to shut down the Knights attack this year. In five games this season, Newcastle – depleted against the Tigers by injuries to regulars Jacob Saifiti, Dylan Lucas, Tyson Gamble, Jack Cogger and James Schiller – have scored only 46 points, at 9.2 per game.
They made the finals last season despite scoring the second-fewest points in the competition (470, at 19.5 per game) and have found it even harder to get across the line in 2025.
Before Sunday’s defeat they had scored one try in their previous two games – a 26-6 loss to Gold Coast followed by a 20-0 shut-out against Canterbury.
It took them until the last minute to put points on the board, when five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe scored a scrappy try after the Tigers failed to clean up a grubber kick. It was the Knights’ first try in 166 minutes of game time.
By the time half-time sounded, with the Tigers leading 14-0, Newcastle had not scored a try for more than two hours.
“There’s a combination of things with the attack,” Knights coach Adam O’Brien said.
“There’s concentration errors, which put pressure on you and can create the ‘yips’ for some.
“So we found ourselves in a situation where we completed our first nine sets, but we didn’t throw a lot of footy at them in that time.
“There was a bit of fatigue in the game, and we just didn’t fire any bullets because we’ve been so fixated on our completion rates.
“So we need to get the balance. We need to understand what our best attacking footy looks like.”
The Tigers opened the scoring in the 18th minute when they created a right-edge overlap and winger Sunia Turuva crashed over in the corner.
Nine minutes later, Starford To’a brushed past a flimsy attempted tackle from Bradman Best to score his fifth try of the season.
When Jahream Bula scored in the 33rd minute from a grubber and chase, the Tigers had raced to a 14-0 lead, leaving a bumper home crowd of 25,960 shellshocked.
Early in the second half, Knights centre Dane Gagai lashed out in a tackle from To’a and both were sent to the sin-bin.
The Tigers scored another try when it was 12 on 12, spinning the ball to their left edge in the 58th minute for centre Adam Doueihi to score.
That left the toothless Knights, who to that point had not looked like scoring, to chase a 20-0 deficit.
The result ended the Tigers’ seven-game, four-year losing streak at the hands of Newcastle.
The only highlight for Newcastle was the debut of prop Tyrone Thompson, who joined his twin brother Leo in the starting pack.
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