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.
Newcastle 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, their third straight, 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.
The Tigers celebrate a Sunia Turuva try.Credit: Getty Images
It took them until the last minute on Sunday 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 Newcastle’s first try in 166 minutes of game time.
In five games this season, the Knights – depleted on Sunday 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.
By the time half-time sounded on Sunday, with the Tigers leading 14-0, Newcastle had not scored a try for more than two hours.
The Tigers, who in stark contrast to Newcastle were only too willing to move the ball, 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, former Newcastle centre Starford To’a brushed past a flimsy attempted tackle from NSW Origin representative Bradman Best to score his fifth try of the season.
When Jahream Bula scored in the 33rd minute from a grubber and chase, the Knights were 14-0 in arrears and not even a bumper home crowd of 25,960 were able to lift them.
Newcastle’s cause was not helped early the second half, when centre Dane Gagai lashed out in a tackle from To’a and both were sent to the sin-bin.
Newcastle conceded another try when it was 12 on 12, after the Tigers spun it to their left edge in the 58th minute and centre Adam Doueihi scored.
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 losing streak at the hands of Newcastle. It was their first win against the Knights since Magic Round, 2021.
The only highlight for Newcastle was the debut of prop Tyrone Thompson, who joined his twin brother Leo in the starting pack.
