Hearts broke for Boyd Cordner as the mourning Sydney Roosters co-skipper copped another head knock in their 42-12 thrashing of Newcastle.

It is the third head knock of the NRL season for the 28-year-old, who was taken from the field for a HIA after 24 minutes and did not return on Saturday night.

Worryingly, he has already missed six games with recurring symptoms after copping a concussion against Melbourne in round eight and again at training three weeks later.

In his third game back from the extended rest, Cordner was chasing a kick through the in-goal when his head hit the SCG turf as he was trying to ground the ball.

He stayed down for several seconds before he left the field, where it’s understood Roosters staff erred on the side of caution and opted to keep him off the field.

It ended a devastating week for Cordner who is mourning the death of his teenage cousin Joel Dark, who died in hospital on Friday after a head knock in a rugby league game last weekend.

The 19-year-old was making his debut for Central Newcastle, with both the Knights and Roosters wearing black arm bands in his honour in Saturday’s NRL game.

The tragedy hung in the air during a minute’s silence before the game, but the Roosters instantly clicked into gear.

They shredded the Knights’ right-side defence, pulling apart Gehamat Shibasaki, Starford To’a and Tex Hoy like a cob loaf to lead 16-0 after 16 minutes.

It was a monumental mismatch given the Roosters’ left side of Josh Morris and Daniel Tupou have 472 NRL games between them, compared to 38 for the Knights’ trio.

And when Joseph Manu cruised through soft defence shortly after, the Roosters had mounted an unassailable 24-0 lead after just 23 minutes.

Attack firing, Tupou landed a double including his 100th try for the Roosters, while Sonny Bill Williams was busy in the middle in a marked improvement from his first match.

In his 150th NRL game, Luke Keary created two tries and scored a double of his own, while James Tedesco and Josh Morris also got on the board.

Mitch Aubusson is now on track to become the club’s most capped player against Cronulla next week after equalling club legend Anthony Minichiello on 302 games.

After being dominated, the Knights finished with just 43 per cent of possession and a try each to Enari Tuala and Shibasaki.

They will next play St George Illawarra in Newcastle on Sunday week.