By Jamie Anderson
The Newcastle Knights have joined four other sides at the top of the competition table following a thoroughly convincing 48 point win over Wyong last Sunday.
A nine tries to one win now sees the Novocastrians sitting in fifth place on the ladder, however they are one of five sides currently sitting on ten competition points after seven rounds of play.
Still smarting after they conceded 50 points to Mounties the week before, the Knights were in no mood to play games with their little brother from down the M1, and put on a footballing clinic for the large crowd that was on hand at a sundrenched No.2 Sports Ground on Easter Sunday.
And it didn’t take the home side long to set the tone for the day as Michael Dobson laid on a wonderful ball for Nathan Ross to cross in just the second minute of play.
Ten minutes later, with the Knights controlling all facets of the match, Waddell put in a deft grubber for David Fa’alogo to score beside the posts and it was 12-0 in the blink of an eye.
Dobson was orchestrating the Knights attack with aplomb and particularly down their left hand side, and it was no surprise that this was where they got their next try, this time it was Dobson and Elias who connected to extend the home sides lead to 18.
Wyong were barely able to get out of their own half for the first 30 minutes of the match, such was the Knights dominance, however the Roos finally got down the other end of the park and were rewarded with their only try of the game as Vailea scored off a nice Nicholls grubber in the 33rd minute.
The Roos, albeit trailing 18-6 had defended well at times, and at this point were still in the match despite the red and blue onslaught, but a second try to Knights livewire, Nathan Ross, on the stroke of half time perhaps broke the visitor’s spirit as they headed to the sheds trailing 24-6.
It was all one way traffic once again in the second stanza with the home side running in five unanswered tries including a second half double to Paterika Vaivai who was outstanding all day, while James Elias also claimed his second of the match, to leave him as one of three Knights who bagged doubles on the day.
Michael Dobson looked very good for the Knights, particularly in the first half, and his combination with Nathan Ross looks like it could grow to be one of the most dangerous in the VB NSW Cup. In the engine room, Fa’alogo, Elias, Vaivai, Waddell and Hilder all played well and coach Rick Stone would have left the ground feeling much better than he did a week earlier.
For the Roos, it was just not their day as they were on the back foot early and never found a foothold in the match from that point.
The Knights will look to make it back to back wins next weekend when they head to Belmore to take on the bottom placed Bulldogs while the Roos return home in search of an improved display against the ladder leading Mounties.
Newcastle Knights 54 (P Vaivai 2, N Ross 2, J Elias 2, D Faalogo, J Siulepa, T Randell tries; J Mantellato 7, M Dobson 2 goals) def. Wyong Roos 6 (T Vailea try; D Nicholls goal) at Newcastle No.2 Sports Ground.
