Full Time
80:00
3:00pm Sat June 25, 2016
Round 16 - McDonald Jones Stadium, New Lambton / Awabakal - Crowd: 13777
79

SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Penalty goal attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.

Widdop makes up for one of his 1425345 earlier missed conversion by striking a penalty from 30m out.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 30-18

79

SIN BIN: Nathan Ross is sent to the sin bin.

It's all happened for Ross today! He's binned for a professional foul after Aitken's break!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-18

78

Newcastle's hot potato football costs them - and Euan Aitken picks it up and runs away with it!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-18

78

A cheeky sideline grubber from Nathan Ross forces an error from Euan Aitken. Newcastle have a chance with three remaining...

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-18

73

Newcastle loft it high for Faifai Loa but the former Cowboy is wise to it. Easy take.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-18

72

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Conversion attempt by Trent Hodkinson successful.

Margin drops to TEN. Wowee.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-18

72

TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Scored by Mitchell Barnett. Kick to come.

Well this adds a little bit of spice to the closing minutes! Barnett slides to the line, Bunker says he maintains control and it's awarded!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-16

72

BUNKER. Checking a possible Newcastle TRY to Mitch Barnett!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-12

71

Penalty for the Knights 2m out right in front. Tap and GO!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-12

70

Looking highlight unlikely at this stage, Newcastle are making metres much easier but are lacking the finesse to finish off their sets.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-12

65

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Conversion attempt by Trent Hodkinson successful.

They couldn't, could they?

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-12

64

TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Scored by Sione Mata'utia. Kick to come.

Classy work from Gagai sets up a try for young Sione! Beauty of a try!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-10

61

UNFORCED ERROR NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Trent Hodkinson makes an unforced error.

Hokko loses it in a tackle with the Knights ripe on the attack. Story of their season.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

60

Knights starting to edge their way into the contest now, forcing a drop-out.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

57

Newcastle look to have a chance but a ball goes flying into touch.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

54

Saints with a classy break up the middle - Dugan finds Packer and they go left with a 3-on-2 but Lafai butchers the try. Knights' scrum.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

51

Bit of a settling period now, a few mistakes creeping in and neither side offering too much in attack.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

45

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.

FINALLY! Widdop converts his second of the day. The Dragons have now scored the most points in any match this season - if that's any surprise.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 28-6

44

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Joel Thompson. Kick to come.

Earns a penalty... Scores a try. Thompson crashes over off a classy short ball near the line. Newcastle all at sea.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 26-6

43

Warnings for both sides after Elliot lashed out the penalty goes the Dragons' way. They'll have an attacking set from 20m out.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

43

Time off after a fight between Brendan Elliot and Joel Thompson. Checking whether punches were thrown.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

41

We're back underway at Hunter Stadium. Good metres from Newcastle in their first set.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

40

Halftime at Hunter and the Dragons are doing it comfortably. They should arguably be ahead by more but Gareth Widdop's goalkicking has the Knights remaning as an outside chance to fire back and claim an upset win.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

40

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop unsuccessful.

Another miss from Widdop.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

40

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Benji Marshall. Kick to come.

Go yourself Benji! The veteran half dummies and breaks a weak tackle, then sprints comfortably to the line to dent the Knights' confidence just before the halftime siren.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 22-6

39

Time off in the closing stages of the half with Lafai down after copping a shot. Dragons penalty. One more chance for points.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 18-6

37

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop unsuccessful.

Margin remains 12 points as Widdop's horror season with the boot continues.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 18-6

36

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Timoteo Lafai. Kick to come.

Easy roll up the field and for the first time they go left - Nightingale is playing inside Lafai and feeds him the ball for their first try on the far side of the posts.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 18-6

31

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Conversion attempt by Trent Hodkinson successful.

Wonderful sideline kick from 'Hokko'.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-6

30

TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS: Scored by Nathan Ross. Kick to come.

The Knights have slid it left, not gracefully, but eventually Ross has it in some space, jumps from 3m out... high jumps into the in-goal... and plants it! Beautiful!

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-4

30

BUNKER! Nathan Ross has scored a superhuman try! We're checking the grounding but wow....

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

25

Up and back for both sides - Dragons coming close on one occasion but neither team decisive in the last few minutes.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

19

INJURY: Jacob Host is off after falling awkwardly in a tackle.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

19

Big kick from Cogger fools nobody - Faifai Loa takes it cleanly in-goal, 20m restart.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

19

Penalty for Newcastle has them attacking inside the Dragons' 20m.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

16

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop unsuccessful.

Awful miss that time from Gareth. Goes well wide.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

15

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Euan Aitken. Kick to come.

The right side of the Knights' defence is getting destroyed. This is men vs boys. Aitken from a Marshall short ball 5m out... easy.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 14-0

14

Dragons find themselves easily back on the attack. Their season-high score so far is 24 points...

St. George Illawarra Dragons 10-0

10

SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop successful.

Much closer, and much better from Widdop.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 10-0

9

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Jacob Host. Kick to come.

Far too easy! Host breaks through on the right edge and scores his first off a perfect Widdop short ball.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 8-0

8

Solid Dragons defence, plenty of numbers and eventually an attempted offload finds its way into the arms of Josh Dugan. To compound that, Newcastle concede the penalty to allow the Dragons out of their own half easily.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 4-0

6

Newcastle get their first penalty which will get them a full set inside the Dragons' 20m. Knights dominating possession so far but behind on the scoreboard.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 4-0

4

UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Conversion attempt by Gareth Widdop unsuccessful.

No dice for Widdop early from the touchline

St. George Illawarra Dragons 4-0

2

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS: Scored by Kalifa Faifai Loa. Kick to come.

NO dramas! KFFL opens the Knights' account early.

St. George Illawarra Dragons 4-0

2

BUNKER! Going upstairs for a potential Dragons TRY to Kalifa Faifai Loa. Checking obstruction from Russell Packer in the leadup.

0 all

1

We are underway. Newcastle have it first.

0 all

It's the annual Alex McKinnon Cup - these two sides celebrating former player Alex McKinnon who suffered a career-ending neck injury in 2014. McKinnon played for both clubs.

No pre-match changes for the Knights - they're as named on Tuesday so King, Chanel Mata'utia and Pauli drop off the 7-man bench. The Saints, meanwhile, get Josh Dugan (elbow) and Tyson Frizell (Origin duty) back for this crucial match. That means Kurt Mann (omitted) and Mike Cooper (neck) are out of the side, with Jason Nightingale shifting from fullback to wing to accommodate Dugan's return.

Those classic kits!


Welcome to Saturday NRL on LeagueUnlimited.com! We've got three great contests today culminating in a Canterbury-Brisbane blockbuster at 7:30pm. But first up, it's the last-placed Knights hosting the indifferent Dragons.

Referees & scorers:

Referee: Dave Munro, Gavin Reynolds

Touch Judges: Jeff Younis, Kasey Badger

Video Referee: Bernard Sutton, Steve Chiddy, Ben Galea

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (18)
Tries: Nathan Ross, Sione Mata'utia, Mitchell Barnett
Field Goals:
Conversions: Trent Hodkinson (3/3)
Penalty Goals:

ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (30)
Tries: Kalifa Faifai Loa, Jacob Host, Euan Aitken, Timoteo Lafai, Benji Marshall, Joel Thompson
Field Goals:
Conversions: Gareth Widdop (2/6)
Penalty Goals: Gareth Widdop (1/1)