S28E19 Preview – A Knights' tale

Can it be done... can a man change the stars?

Jul 09, 2025

Hitting up the time machine this week to head back to 1998 and Melbourne Storm’s first match against then reigning ~~reserve grade~~ ARL premiers Newcastle.

S01E20 – Melbourne Storm vs Newcastle Knights

By round 20 of the 1998 season, Melbourne had a little hiccup after hitting the top of the ladder after round 15. There were consecutive losses against the Warriors and Broncos, with a third within a month against Manly as Melbourne faced The Gauntlet.

The 1998 NRL draw was seemingly fashioned by the fixture makers in a clock format with teams facing the same group of opponents in consecutive weeks. The part of the draw that Melbourne faced from round 17 through 24 included the four preliminary finalists from the 1997 ARL season and the top four teams from the Super League season.

Incoming Newcastle coach and then commentator Warren Ryan called the section of the draw “the gauntlet” where teams would face a test of their premiership capabilities, and for Melbourne in their first season in the competition the test was proving difficult as they looked to secure a finals berth.

Teams from *Big League* — Melbourne were as per programme, but the Knights had David Lomax start in place of an injured Glenn Grief with Jarrod O’Doherty on the bench.

This match was Melbourne’s fourth straight Friday night match1 and marked the debut of former Perth Reds player Tristan Brady-Smith, the 27th (and last) player used by Chris Anderson for the season. This would be halfback Brett Kimmorley’s first match against his former club after defecting from the Knights during the Super League War to the Hunter Mariners. Noddy had led the Knights to their first ever trophy, winning the reserve grade Grand Final in 1995 scoring two tries in the decider against the Sharks.

Newcastle had opened the scoring with an early penalty goal as they attacked the river end of a frigid Olympic Park, but it would be another former Mariner who scored the first try of the night. Richard Swain jumped out of dummy half to find clear passage to the line through some flimsy defence. Kimmorley missed a fairly easy conversion attempt to keep the score at 4–2.

That miss didn’t dent the confidence of the young halfback though as he pulled the strings of Melbourne’s attack. In the ninth minute he attacked the line at pace at midfield and his pass to a rampaging Paul Marquet had him through the defence in an instant. Marquet’s pass to John Carlaw might not have hit the mark, but the intent was clear from the Storm: they wanted to dominate Newcastle.

Kimmorley’s kicking game was a huge part of that, his kicks were often able to stop in the narrow Olympic Park in-goal area, allowing Marcus Bai to monster opponents in defence. Melbourne were looking sharp and if a winger could set the tone in a match with their hard running, this match was one where Bai was immense.

The PNG international scored his first try in the 21st minute, getting the ball down in the north-west corner of The Graveyard under heavy pressure from Jason Moodie. Bai getting the green lights from the video referee after keeping his boots in the field of play. The try had been set up by Kimmorley and Robbie Ross chiming in down the left flank.

A mistake in the next set after the restart gave the Knights a chance to hit back straight away, but a bullet left to right pass from Andrew Johns was intercepted by Kimmorley who sprinted 85 metres to score untouched, with the atmosphere at fever pitch.

Approaching half time, the visitors scored their first try of the night via Owen Craigie who fortuitously got on the end of a bouncing ball after a Joey Johns bomb evaded Ross, the fullback unable to get a handle on the ball as it came down through the bright lights of Olympic Park.

After the break there was a lucky escape for the Storm when the video referee ruled against a potential try to the Knights when Bai fumbled on zero tackle near his own line only for Neil Piccinelli to pick up the loose ball and put the ball down on the tryline. It was ruled that Piccinelli had lost control himself in trying to score, with everyone seemingly oblivious to the fact that Melbourne should have had a scrum feed in any event from a knock-on that gave Bai the ball for which he had taken no advantage.

I wonder what happened to the old video referee board

As a heavy fog rolled in during the second half,2 Newcastle hit back through Matt Gidley who was able to beat Tony Martin, Bai and Ross on a solo run down the touchline to score. It was a piece of individual brilliance, but it wasn’t great defence from the Storm. Johns missed the kick though which would have tied the scores with just over 20 minutes to play.

A hamstring injury to Robbie Ross put a damper on proceedings momentarily,3 but with Melbourne attacking in waves after multiple offloads, Bai scored his second try to put the Storm back on top by six points. The Knights had injury concerns of their own, with Matthew Johns limping off and Andrew Johns hobbling around with a corked thigh.

Another injury, this time to Glenn Lazarus, delayed the match in the 64th minute. Storm’s captain going down with a hamstring injury that eventually kept him on the sidelines for the rest of the 1998 season.

A penalty earned by Robbie Kearns gave Kimmorley an easy chance to extend the lead to eight points, then Bai exploded down the sideline to score his third try. Bai rampaging down the wing after Martin’s well-timed pass put him in space, the winger stepping past the defenders to put the ball down near the posts. It was a carve up from the home team a few minutes later when Scott Hill beat some poor defence to brush through tacklers to score as Melbourne went on with the job.

There was a late try to Darren Albert in the final minute, but that was immaterial as the final result. Bai got all the headlines after this match,4 his hat-trick was the first by a Melbourne player coming just days after his country was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami.

The original Storm Man costume can’t hurt you now…

Loved this quote from Bai in the post match describing the way he went about it:

I just want to go and run over someone.

This was Melbourne’s first win in a match officiated by Bill Harrigan after losing their first three matches in which he held the whistle. Overall Harrigan controlled 28 Storm matches until his retirement in 2003, the Storm winning just 10 of those matches.

Melbourne – 32 (Bai 21', 62', 68', Swain 6', Kimmorley 23', Hill 73' tries; Kimmorley 4/7 goals)

Newcastle – 16 (Craigie 36', Gidley 57', Albert 80' tries; Johns 2/3, Craigie 0/1 goals)

Stat attack

Melbourne have played three matches on 12 July, beating the Cowboys 22–16 at Olympic Park in 2003, losing 6–4 to the Bulldogs at AAMI Park in 2014, then going down the next season 28–14 to the Warriors in Auckland.
Melbourne haven’t played a round 19 game since 2022 and have only won half of their 22 matches played in this corresponding round each season.
The Storm have won nine of 21 matches against the Knights at Newcastle. The Knights have won the previous two matches between these teams at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Melbourne are one of five teams to score 50 or more points against Newcastle at their home venue, defeating the Knights 50–2 in 2022.
17 players have played for both teams in this fixture, with Anthony Quinn featuring for the Knights in seven matches and the Storm in eight matches scoring 11 tries (6 for Melbourne).
Newcastle have won two of their four day games in 2025, with Melbourne winning six of seven daytime fixtures.

Team line-up

~~Ryan Papenhuyzen~~
Grant Anderson
Joe Chan
Nick Meaney
Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown
Tyran Wishart
Jahrome Hughes ©
Tui Kamikamica
Bronson Garlick
Josh King
Shawn Blore
Eliesa Katoa
Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Jonah Pezet
Stefano Utoikamanu
~~Lazarus Vaalepu~~
Ativalu Lisati
Jack Howarth
Trent Loiero
~~Cameron Munster~~
Harry Grant
Kane Bradley
~~Moses Leo~~
~~Keagan Russell-Smith~~

Referee: Todd Smith (Bunker: Ashleigh Klein)

Preview

Newcastle Knights vs Melbourne Storm
— McDonald Jones Stadium, 3:00pm Saturday 12 July 2025

A team list was put out on Tuesday afternoon by the Storm. That’s a fact. The team list itself though was just a little like throwing darts blindfolded.

Ryan Papenhuyzen returns… sure.

Siulagi Tiumalatu-Brown named in jersey five with Xavier Coates missing altogether from the 24-man squad… okay.

Can only assume the Queenslanders will be missing, while Stefano Utoikamanu was named on the bench for reasons… wait where the hell is Alec MacDonald? Jack Howarth could be back too after his recent illness. After his try for the Bears, I’m not surprised to see Moses Leo named again too, but I suspect he’ll be playing on Sunday instead. But who the hell knows at the moment. At least the exhibition series is over now.

For the Knights there’s no Kalyn Ponga, but while Lord Tyson Gamble is looming in the reserves it means Jackson Hastings and Jack Cogger hold the keys to the Newcastle attack (average points in 2025: 14.81).

As has been the theme of these matches through the middle of the season, Melbourne need to keep banking in two competition points where they can if they want to finish top two. The fixture from here only gets tougher, so taking points from teams that aren’t likely to make the finals is a must.

I’d love to see the Storm mentality that put the Sharks to the sword a fortnight ago carry through in to this match, without some of the defensive frailty the Cowboys exposed last weekend. The Knights can be dangerous (degenerates could probably look for Dom Young to score a try), but hopefully Melbourne have enough to get past the Novocastrians to apply just a little more pressure on Adam O’Brien.

Oh hey, would you look at the forecast… no rain? Amazing.

What else is going on?

The Jersey Flegg Cup squad return to Gosch’s Paddock for the first time in 2025 on Saturday afternoon (kickoff 2pm) to face off against the sixth-placed Bulldogs. The Dogs played out a 30-all draw against the Knights last weekend, having lost their previous two matches. Melbourne won the earlier match this season 30–20.

On Sunday afternoon (kickoff 3pm) the Bears host the Bulldogs in the NSW Cup at North Sydney Oval. Both teams have had their struggles this season, the Bears sit ninth with the Dogs in seventh, both teams having won six of their 16 matches.

The Falcons have the bye this weekend to recover from their nasty loss in Mackay, while the Tigers also have a weekend on the couch.

It the “win and you’re in” scenario in the Super Netball this weekend. The West Coast Fever have the minor premiership sewn up, the Swifts likely have second place, while the Vixens will either finish third or fourth depending on what happens in the game with the most interest for the weekend:

Saturday 7pm (AEST) Adelaide Thunderbirds vs Sunshine Coast Lightning

Winner grabs a finals spot, the loser goes on Mad Monday. If we can assume that the Fever beat the Vixens on Sunday, the winner of this match will likely host their elimination semi final against the Melbourne team. The Lightning went down to the defending premiers in round 2 earlier this season, losing 60–45.

Courtney Bruce will be out for the Sunshine Coast, leaving a lot on the shoulders of defenders Ashleigh Ervin and vice-captain Tara Hinchliffe up against the dominant force of Romelda Aiken-George. At the other end of the court, captain Steph Fretwell was clutch in the circle and will need to be at her best again this week. She looked a lot more comfortable with Cara Koenen back in the line-up, so that pairing will need to be in sync yet again up against Thunderbirds defenders Matilda Garrett and Latanya Wilson. The league’s best defender, Wilson was massive against the Mavericks last week, but Koenen has been in great form since her return from injury.

I hope that the Lightning can do it, but it does feel like they’re up against it.