Newcastle have put the brakes on their recent slump in form with a first NRL win in three games, scoring seven tries to see off Canterbury 44-8 at Hunter Stadium on Sunday.
In an occasionally fiery encounter, the Knights banished the memory of last week’s 44-14 capitulation at Canberra, with Willie Mason putting his hand up for a NSW recall as he rolled back the years with a powerful performance.
Wayne Bennett’s side started strongly with tries from Robbie Rochow and Kevin Naqaima, both converted by Kurt Gidley, but took their foot off the pedal before halftime by conceding a soft try to Frank Pritchard.
The Bulldogs were then awarded a contentious penalty for a shoulder charge on Trent Hodkinson by Adam Cuthbertson, and the former Manly playmaker kicked the two points to reduce the hosts’ lead to 12-8 at the interval.
Having seen their side relinquish leads in their past two games, the Knights supporters had their nerves calmed six minutes after the restart when James McManus latched onto a smart Darius Boyd kick to score.
The fast-pace of the game saw Bulldogs prop Sam Kasiano struggle to impose his huge size in the forward battle and he was hooked by coach Des Hasler after he lost the ball on first tackle and was then stood up by halfback Tyrone Roberts as he teed up Boyd for a well-worked try.
That four-pointer effectively sealed the victory for the Knights but tempers boiled over when Mason took exception to a tackle on McManus where his legs appeared to put in an awkward position by Ben Barba and Krisnan Inu.
There was then the mildly comical sight of the giant Mason and diminutive Bulldogs fullback Ben Barba trading insults from 20 metres.
But Mason had the last laugh just after the hour mark when he played a major role in a superb try – finished off by Joseph Leilua in the right corner – with an audacious offload.
That knocked the stuffing out of the Bulldogs and the Knights continued to press and were rewarded with two more tries from Gidley and Naiqama.