Newcastle demonstrated their National Rugby League premiership credentials with a fantastic 38-6 victory over the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night.
The Knights produced a swashbuckling display with NSW Origin hopefuls Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen pulling the strings on a miserable night for the Roosters who conceded six tries and lost Sia Soliola and Craig Fitzgibbon to injuries.
Mullen and Seb Taia ran in two tries each and Gidley kicked seven goals as the Brad Fittler's side slumped to their seventh defeat of the season in front of a crowd of just 8,611 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Taia crossed twice in the space of five first-half minutes, taking advantage some poor tackling from the hosts to give the Knights a 12-0 lead thanks to two successful Gidley conversions.
With Mullen and five-eighth Ben Rogers linking well, the Knights were making plenty of inroads down the Roosters' left wing but it was a 70-metre run from Gidley that gave the visitors their third try four minutes before half-time.
Picking the ball up deep in his own half, Gidley left a trail of tricolour jerseys in his wake before producing an audacious reverse pass to the onrushing Mullen, who touched down under the posts.
Gidley's conversion made it 20-0 and, just before the interval, he kicked his second penalty to give Brian Smith's side a comfortable cushion.
The Roosters finally gave the home supporters something to cheer almost immediately after the restart when Fitzgibbon made his final contribution for the evening, deflecting a Mullen kick into the grateful hands of fullback Jordan Tansey who raced the length of the field to score a memorable first NRL try.
However, joy was short-lived when Mullen went over for his second score of the game after selling a smart dummy to wrongfoot the fragile Roosters defence and burrowed over the line in the 51st minute.
The Knights stretched that lead again 10 minutes from time after lock Matt Hilder found space once again through the thin Roosters defence and smartly off-loaded to Mullen whose perfectly weighted kick eluded Sisa Waqa, but not the alert Keith Lulia.
And the Roosters misery was compounded further when burly prop Danny Wicks showed some impressive pace to sidestep Tansey and round off a thoroughly good night for the visitors.
