Jets lose their third game in a row - and their place in the top five.

Match Report:

The Newtown Jets are now in dangerous territory on the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup competition table, having been relegated to seventh position following their 16-14 loss to the second-placed Newcastle Knights at Henson Park last Saturday.

The Jets’ 10th Beer, Footy & Food Festival was overall a great success, with the timely arrival of fine weather drawing a crowd in excess of 10,000. A home-ground victory against the Knights would have really topped off what could have been a near-perfect day for the Newtown club.

The Newtown Jets in a pre-match huddle, with the big 8,000 plus crowd in the background.

The Jets had some quality players available for their match against the second-placed Knights. Tough prop Braden Hamlin-Uele was back from injury, along with the high-performance hooker Jayden Berrell who was back on the Newtown team-list. On the negative side, ace centre Michael Gabrael was unfortunately serving a one-week suspension, and the ball-playing lock forward Blake Hosking was still recovering from a cheekbone injury.

Newtown made a great start to the match which helped to fire up the big crowd, when centre Riley Jones (who had previously played with the Knights) smartly finished off a quick shift of the ball to the right edge. Niwhai Puru’s conversion from wide out gave the Jets a 6-0 lead after six minutes.

Liam Ison, the Newtown Jets team captain and fullback leads the famous Royal Blues out at Henson Park.

As anticipated, this was a hard-fought and good standard NSW Cup encounter between two teams, who on their best form and at full-strength, would have expectations of advancing well into this season’s finals series. The Knights are in second place on the NSW Cup table and look to be the strongest challengers to the competition’s front-runners, the Penrith Panthers.

The Knights hit back after Newtown’s try with a runaway 80 metres try-scoring effort from the splendidly-named centre Melchizedek Nonu. The try was converted and the score remained at 6-all up to half-time.

Jets halfback Niwhai Puru about to land a conversion attempt from the sideline.

Newtown regained the lead early in the second half when Niwhai Puru kicked a penalty goal from close to the southern end posts. The Knights responded with two tries (one to each winger) within the space of just four minutes, taking the men from the Hunter region out to a 16-8 lead.

With less than twenty minutes remaining, Jets winger Sam Stonestreet pounced on a loose pass and scored in the south-eastern corner, with Puru’s conversion narrowing the Knights’ lead to 16-14.

Newtown hooker Jayden Berrell was one of Newtown’s best forwards in the hard-fought match against the Knights.

That remained the score until full-time, with the Jets rueing missed try-scoring opportunities where wrong options or poor handling denied Newtown the chance to win this closely-contested and absorbing match.

The acute disappointment of having lost three games in a row, each time by two-point margins (North Sydney 12-10, Melbourne Storm 20-18 and the Knights 16-14) makes it vital for the Jets to win this weekend’s 21st round fixture to remain in the quest for a place in the 2026 finals.

Newtown plays last-placed Manly-Warringah on Sunday, 26th July at 4 Pines Park (Brookvale Oval) at 1.30pm. This match is a curtain-raiser to the Manly-Warringah v Cronulla Sharks NRL fixture.

Jets lock big Sam McCulloch in full cry as he takes on the Newcastle Knights defence.

Match Details:
NSWRL Knock-On Effect NSW Cup

Round 20

Saturday, 18th July 2026

Henson Park

Newtown v Newcastle Knights

Kick-Off: 3.30pm.

Weather: Partly cloudy, 18 degrees, 15km/hr breeze.

Playing surface: Excellent.

Match Officials:

Referee: Mitch Currie

Touch Judges: Brad Kiehne, Curtis Robinson

Standby: Matthew Gomes.

Match Result: -

Full-Time at Henson Park on Saturday, 18th July 2026: -
Newcastle Knights 16:
Melchizedek Nonu, Wilson De Courcey, Logan Aoake tries;

Connor Votano 2 conversions

defeated

Newtown Jets 14:
Riley Jones, Sam Stonestreet tries;

Niwhai Puru 2 conversions, 1 penalty goal.

Half-Time: 6-all.

The teams were: -
Newtown:

Fullback: Liam Ison (captain)
Wingers: Kristian Dixon, Sam Stonestreet

Centres: Riley Jones, Chris Vea’ila

Halves: Riley Pollard, Niwhai Puru

Lock: Sam McCulloch

Second-Rowers: Jaxon Lavender, Harrison Hassett

Front-Rowers: Braden Uele, Brad Fearnley

Hooker: Jayden Berrell.

Interchange:
Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa, Joe Nadenic

Felix Faatili, Taj Ford

Reserve: Kobie Wilson

Blue shirt trainer: Tom Haberecht

Yellow shirt trainer: Brett Kaplan

Orange shirt trainer: Chris Moubarak

Game day doctor: Dr Daryl Wong

Coach: George Ndaira.

Newcastle Knights:

Fullback: Connor Votano

Wingers: Logan Aoake, Wilson De Courcey

Centres: Melchizedek Nonu, Kyle McCarthy

Halves: Tyson Gamble, Matt Hunter

Lock: Ben Peni

Second-Rowers: Elijah Salesa-Leaumoana, Jacob Tualai

Front-Rowers: Rory Whitby, Blake Woodford

Hooker: Matt Arthur

Interchange:
Diesel Hagan, Tama Wharerorere

Kane Graham, Curtis Mulherin

Reserve: Mitch Henderson

Blue shirt: Daniel Fitzhenry

Yellow shirt: Wayne Humphrey

Orange shirt: Haydyn Baragry

Game day doctor: Dr Chris Lamb

Coach: Michael Dobson.

Match Timeline: -

First Half:
Knights kicked off to the Sydenham Road end.

4th minute: Riley Jones try.

Converted by Niwhai Puru. Newtown 6-0.

16th minute: Melchizedek Nonu 80 metre try

Converted by Connor Votano. 6-all.

Half-Time: 6-all.

Second half:
Newtown kicked off to the southern end.

48th minute: Niwhai Puru penalty goal.

Newtown lead 8-6.

53rd minute: Wilson De Courcey try.

Not converted. Knights lead 10-8.

57th minute: Logan Aoake try.

Connor Votano conversion. Knights led 16-8.

63rd minute: Sam Stonestreet try.

Converted by Niwhai Puru. Knights lead 16-14.

79th minute: Niwhai Puru misses two-point field goal.

Full-Time: Newcastle Knights 16 defeated Newtown 14.

From left to right: Sam McCulloch, Harrison Hassett and Braden Hamlin-Uele on tackling duty.

Match Statistics:

Newtown Player Statistics:

Jayden Berrell: 43 tackles

Liam Ison: 258 most run metres.

Sam Stonestreet: 2 line breaks.

Team Statistics:
Possession: Newtown 51%, Knights 49%

Time in possession: N 30.13, NK 28.17

Completion rate: N 87% (36/41); NK 81% (36/44)
All runs in attack: N 209, NK 196

All run metres: N 1802, NK 1772

Post-contact metres: N 580, NK 564

Line Breaks: N 4, NK 3

Tackle breaks: N 34, NK 42

Average set distance: N 43.97, NK 40.28

Kick return metres: N 182, NK 156

Average play the ball speed: N 3.46, NK 3.29

Offloads: N 7, NK 14

Receipts: N 471, NK 436

Total passes: N 262, NK 227

Dummy passes: N 9, NK 10

Kicks: N 25, NK 23

Kicking metres: N 700, NK 781

Forced drop outs: N 1, NK 1

Kick defusals: N 100%, NK 100%

Bombs: N 5, NK 6

Grubbers: N 4, NK 2

Effective tackles: N 84.98, NK 89.84

Tackles made: N 345, NK 389

Missed tackles: N 42, NK 34

Ineffective tackles: N 19, NK 10

Errors: N 7, NK 7

Penalties conceded: N 3, NK 5

Ruck infringements: N 3, NK 2

Inside 10 metres: N 1, NK 2

Interchanges: N 7, NK 7

Newtown’s next match: -

NSWRL Knock-On Effect NSW Cup

Round 21

Sunday, 26th July 2026

4 Pines Park, Brookvale

Manly-Warringah v Newtown

Kick-Off: 1.30pm.

This match will be livestreamed on BarTV NSWRL

This NSW Cup fixture is the curtain-raiser to the Manly-Warringah v Cronulla Sharks NRL match at 4.05pm.