Kyle Flanagan went within an whisker of snatching a win for the Dragons as the seconds ticked away but the Red V went down to the Knights 22-20 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night.
The Dragons finished on top in the tries column but were ultimately bested by a Knights side down Origin stars Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Lucas as stand-in five-eighth Sandon Smith slotted all five of his attempts from the tee.
A 70th-minute Dylan Egan try – his first since returning from a year-long ACL injury – set up a grandstand finish but it was the Novocastrians who prevailed in front of their home crowd.
“Everyone played their role well tonight,” Dean Young said.
“We didn’t get the result obviously which is really disappointing, but I’m really proud of the players’ effort, them sticking to the plan, and sticking to what we practised during the week.”
The Dragons were dealt a blow prior to kick-off with Moses Suli succumbing to a hip injury in the warm-up seeing Tyrell Sloan earn a call-up into the run-on side.
It took just five minutes for the Knights to take advantage of the visitors’ re-shuffled left edge with a Dane Gagai flick sending Dominic Young streaking down the right touchline as a supporting Fletcher Sharpe finished things off up the middle.
Boosted by a yardage penalty, Sharpe made it two tries in as many sets for the hosts after Bradman Best skied to take in a Dylan Brown kick and found his supporting fullback back on the inside to make it a double-digit game.
Video officials were brought into the match 15 minutes in as Young went close to a second, only to lose the ball in an in-goal aerial contest.
The Dragons showed a level of resolve to snag the contest’s next points with Kyle Flanagan fashioning a pinpoint grubber off the left foot for Valentine Holmes to fly through and score off.
They were rewarded for their grit again soon after with Flanagan once more producing a perfect kick for a chasing Tyrell Sloan who shot through and did a fantastic job to scoop the ball up and get it to the turf in the left-hand corner.
It marked the Dapto Canaries junior’s 50th try for the club – a mark reached by only eight other St George Illawarra Dragons.
A pair of late penalty goals saw the Knights take a 16-12 lead into the sheds, but Dean Young’s men enjoyed much of the ascendancy late in the first half.
Greg Marzhew was placed on report early in the second half for a high shot on his opposite Setu Tu.
The next points of the contest belonged to Newcastle with Sandon Smith finishing off a sequence which involved a pair of kicks and a mad race for a rapidly rolling ball.
The Dragons were able to manufacture a much-needed four-pointer shortly after with a fresh Luciano Leilua crafting an offload to a supporting Clint Gutherson to push the visitors onto the attack.
NRL Match Highlights: Round 16 vs. Knights
The next play Daniel Atkinson placed a kick in space which bounced forcing a covering Sharpe to inadvertently knock the ball into the arms of Tu who dove over untouched to cut the deficit back to a half-dozen.
The Dragons inched closer as the clash entered its final 10 minutes with Tu streaming through to take in an Atkinson bomb and hand it off to a supporting Dylan Egan who slid over in the corner for his first try of 2026. Holmes’ conversion cannoned off the right upright and out as the margin remained at two.
The Dragons fought tooth and nail to steal it late as Flanagan came agonisingly short of pinching a try off an Atkinson bomb on the stroke of full-time but was denied by video officials.
NRL Press Conference: Round 16 vs. Knights
