Welcome to the Unofficial Newcastle Knights Web Page

We Are the 1997 ARL Premiers!

Index

1. Introduction to the Newcastle Knights

2. Knights 1997 Draw

3. Knights 1997 Results

4. Knights Records

5. Knights of the Decade

6. Knights Juniors / Up and Coming Players

7. Knights Match Report

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Introduction

Welcome all you followers of the 1997 ARL Premiers, the Newcastle Knights. This is the unofficial Newcastle Knights web page. Here you can find the latest Knights news, find the latest scores, read player profiles and find out other interesting facts about the mighty Knights.

The Newcastle Knights are already well on their way to becoming premiers in the 1997 Optus Cup. They showed very good form early on in the season and now with a near full strength team, they should make the final seven with ease.

The Knights are well served by coach Malcolm Reilly and have several State representative players and several Internationals. These players include Andrew Johns, Robbie O'Davis, Paul Harragon and Adam Muir. Many other players have also been performing well this season such as Darren Albert who is one of the leading tryscorers in the Optus Cup and also Leo Dynevor who is one of the leading pointscorers in the competition.

This year marks the 10th Season for the Newcastle Knights and they plan to finish it in style. This season has been rocked with the Super League fiasco and talks of mergers and foldings have marred a season that has been full of excitement. The Knights, the "Heart and Soul" of the Hunter Region and the players have been very positive and have adopted a very good attitude this season. They will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with this season.

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Knights 1997 Draw

Round One: St George at Marathon
Round Two: North Sydney at North Sydney Oval
Round Three: Sth Queensland at Marathon
Round Four: Sydney City at SFS
Round Five: Parramatta at Marathon
Round Six: Wests at Campbelltown
Round Seven: Manly at Brookvale
Round Eight: Illawarra at Marathon
Round Nine: Gold Coast at Carrara
Round Ten: South Sydney at Marathon
Round Eleven: Balmain at Leichardt
Round Twelve: St George at Kogarah
Round Thirteen: Norths at Marathon
Round Fourteen: Sth Queensland at Suncorp
Round Fifteen: Sydney City at Marathon
Round Sixteen: Parramatta at Parramatta Stadium
Round Seventeen: Wests at Marathon
Round Eighteen: Manly at Marathon
Round Nineteen: Illawarra at WIN Stadium
Round Twenty: Gold Coast at Marathon
Round Twenty-One: South Sydney at SFS
Round Twenty-Two: Balmain at Marathon

**

Knights 1997 Results

RoundDateVersusResultScoreGroundCrowd
19/3/97St GeorgeWin11-6Marathon9,389
216/3/97North SydneyLoss20-34North Sydney Oval-
323/3/97Sth Queensland CrushersWin44-0Marathon15,114
428/3/97Sydney CityWin28-16Sydney Football Stadium-
56/4/97ParramattaWin29-10Marathon21,225
611/4/97Western SuburbsWin8-4Campbelltown SG-
720/4/97ManlyLoss8-22Brookvale Oval-
827/4/97IllawarraWin20-4Marathon12,582
93/5/97Gold CoastLoss24-32Carrara-
1013/7/97South SydneyWin30-0Marathon6,117
1117/5/97BalmainWin26-18Leichardt Oval-
121/6/97St GeorgeLoss18-20Kogarah Oval-
1315/6/97North SydneyLoss6-26Marathon6,281
1421/6/97Sth Queensland CrushersWin24-6Suncorp Stadium-
154/7/97Sydney CityDraw14-14Marathon6,552
1620/7/97ParramattaLoss22-28Parramatta Stadium-
1725/7/97Western SuburbsWin42-18Marathon17,179
181/8/97ManlyLoss12-14Marathon25,077
1910/8/97IllawarraWin22-12WIN Stadium-
2017/8/97Gold CoastWin44-18Marathon15,063
2124/8/97South SydneyWin26-8Sydney Football Stadium-
2230/8/97BalmainWin34-10Marathon22,157
QF17/9/97ParramattaWin28-20Sydney Football Stadium-
QF214/9/97ManlyLoss12-27Sydney Football Stadium-
QF320/9/97North SydneyWin17-12Sydney Football Stadium-
GF28/9/97ManlyWIN22-16Sydney Football Stadium-

**

Knights Records

Top Scorers

Andrew Johns - 498 (16 Tries, 214 Goals, 6 Field Goals)
Ashley Gordon - 268 (38 Tries, 57 Goals, 2 Field Goals)
John Schuster - 258 (17 Tries, 95 Goals)
Robbie O'Davis - 192 (32 Tries, 32 Goals)
Adrian Brunker - 144 (18 Tries, 36 Goals)
Jeff Doyle - 114 (19 Tries, 19 Goals)

Top Try Scorers

Jamie Ainscough - 47 Tries
Ashley Gordon - 38 Tries
Robbie O'Davis - 32 Tries
Adam Muir - 21 Tries
Tony Kemp - 20 Tries

Most Field Goals

Matthew Johns - 7
Andrew Johns - 6
Michael Hagan - 3
Gary Wurth - 3
Ashley Gordon - 2
David Mullane - 2

Most Games

Marc Glanville - 165 Games (155 Starts, 10 Replacements)
Robbie McCormack - 154 Games (146 Starts, 8 Replacements)
Tony Butterfield - 132 Games (114 Starts, 18 Replacements)
Paul Harragon - 128 Games (115 Starts, 13 Replacements)
Mark Sargent - 125 Games (117 Starts, 8 Replacements)
David Boyd - 112 Games (103 Starts, 9 Replacements)
Michael Hagan - 111 (111 Starts, 0 Replacements)
Paul Marquet - 110 (74 Starts, 36 Replacements)
Robbie O'Davis - 100 (96 Starts, 4 Replacements)

Representative Players

Tony Butterfield City Origin
Matthew Gidley Country Origin
Marc Glanville Country Origin
Glenn Grief World Cup Train-On Squad
Paul Harragon Country Origin, NSW State of Origin, Australia
Lee Jackson Great Britain
Andrew Johns Country Origin, NSW State of Origin, Australia
Matthew Johns Country Origin, NSW State of Origin, Australia
Adam Muir Country Origin, NSW State of Origin, Australia
Robbie O'Davis Queensland State of Origin, Australia

**

Knights of the Decade

Recently the Newcastle Herald ran a competition to find out who would be the Knights "Dream Team". It was opened to Herald readers and they had to pick a team selected by a panel of 10 people including Gary Harley and Mike Rabbitt. Any Knights player who had been with the club over its 10 year history was eligible. The following team was chosen:

Fullback:
Robbie O'Davis

Wingers:
Ashley Gordon and John Schuster

Centres:
Jamie Ainscough and Michael Hagan (C)

Five-Eighth:
Matthew Johns

Half-Back:
Andrew Johns

Lock:
Marc Glanville

Second-Rowers:
Tony Butterfield and Adam Muir

Hooker:
Robbie McCormack

Front-Rowers:
Mark Sargent and Paul Harragon

Reserves:
Tony Kemp, Brad Godden, Sam Stewart and Paul Marquet

Coach:
Mal Reilly

**

Knights Juniors / Up and Coming Players

The Newcastle Knights have always had a good team thanks largely to their good juniors program. The addition of the Hunter Mariners to the Newcastle region has meant that the juniors squads have been slightly underpowered this season. The Newcastle Knights have basically being fielding two sets of junior teams in each age division due to the Mariners juniors pinching some of the Knights juniors.

There are several divisions in the juniors program being:
Harold Matthews Cup (16's)
SG Ball (18's)
Jersey Flegg (20's)

Recently the Knights SG Ball squad played in the final. The team played very well and were beaten in the final minute by a Sydney City field goal. The score was 11-10 to the Roosters but the Knights led for most of the game. Going in at the half-time break leading 10-4, the Knights were well positioned to take control of the match using good ball movement and brilliant attack. However it was not to be. A Sydney City try just after play resumed locked up the scores at 10-10. As stated above, the last minute field goal won the game for Sydney City. The Knights boys should be very proud of themselves.

Some of the Knights up and coming players are Owen Craigie who has played well all this season after he mad the grade last season. Other players such as Daniel Smailes and Mark Hughes have regurlarly found themselves either starting in first grade or coming off the bench. Matthew Gidley has played Country Origin in the Rep. season as well as provided the Knights fans with his individual brilliance. Darren Albert has proven a force to be reckoned with this season, unlucky not to be selected in Rep. sides this season. He is currently the second top try scorer this season. Watch out for other players such as Jason Moodie, Brett Clements and Adam McDougall.

**

Match Report

Match: Versus Manly-Warringah Sea-Eagles - 28/9/97

The Knights won their first Grand Final and in the process became only the third time in history to win on their first attempt. The score, 22-16, made possible by a freakish circumstances in the dying stages of the game with Darren Albert scoring with 8 seconds to go.

The Knights started well but the Sea-Eagles got away to an early ten point lead which was cut back by a fantastic Robbie O'Davis special. He cut the Manly defence to shreds and Andrew Johns converted to make the score 10-8 to Manly. Manly scored again before half time to make the score 16-8.

The Knights came out all guns blazing and kept Manly scoreless in the second half. Robbie O'Davis scored under the post with 8 minutes to go and Darren Albert scored the winning try in the 79th minute to send the city of Newcastle into party mode.

Robbie O'Davis got the Clive Churchill Medal awarded to the player of the Grand Final. Andrew Johns played the match with three broken ribs.

The City of Newcastle showed their appreciation with 100,000 people turning out for the parade through the city. This event will no doubt stay in the hearts and minds of the people of Newcastle for many years to come.

STOP PRESS - South Queensland Crushers Origin prop, Clinton O'Brien has been signed up by the Newcastle Knights. The Johns Brothers have resigned for 3 years and Tony Butterfield has signed for two years and Perth Second Rower, Peter Shiels has been signed

**

This page is constantly being updated.
Last updated on the 7/11/97
This page created by David Vincent

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