NRL News
Knights sneak home against Sharks in Cessnock 12-10
Newcastle Prop Adam Woolnough, was a standout for Newcastle for most of the night, and carried four defenders over the line in the 75th minute to ensure a close finish.
He then backed up again with 20 seconds to go in the match and again carried several Sharks defenders across the try line and touched down under the posts, with Daniel Abraham taking the easy conversion to pinch the win from the Sharks.
Andrew Johns who missed the trial game, said he would have liked to have played but ultimately Smith overruled, unwilling to risk his best player only two weeks out from the season start.
"I trained all week and I'm a bit sore today and the coach just said 'if you do it again you could miss the start of the season'," the 32-year-old said.
"The coach just did not want to risk it."
Johns, perhaps hinting at his retirement plans at the end of the season, said he was shattered to miss his last chance to play in front of his home fans at Cessnock.
"I'm bitterly disappointed," he said.
"I'm shattered because I pushed that hard to try and play and knew it would be my last chance to play in my home town.
"It is a trial match but sentimental value it would have been great to play in my home town."
The win is a nice confidence builder for the Knights, who seem to have revelled under Brian Smiths stricter coaching routines. The Sharks however need to find some answers quickly, managing only a single trial win against star-less Souths team last weekend.NEWCASTLE 12 (A Woolnough 2 tries; D Abraham 2 goals)
CRONULLA 10 (B Pomeroy G Bird tries; L Covell goal)
Referee: T De Las Heras.
Crowd: 4600 at Baddeley Park, Cessnock.
