Pearces return one of few highlights as Knights hold out Broncos

One of the very few highlights for the Newcastle Knights was Mitchell Pearce scoring a try and setting up another in a successful return from a hamstring injury.

But the No. 7 and his Knights will need to improve drastically during the next month to scrape into the finals and then actually progress past the first week.

There was not much to cheer as the Knights held off a spirited Brisbane 28-20 on Thursday night. It would have been easier on the eye watching the Kookaburras play Belgium in their gold medal hockey match at the Tokyo Olympics, a match the Australians lost in a penalty shootout.

But Knights coach Adam O’Brien was never going to be too critical of his side because they were coming off just a four-day turnaround â€" something unheard of in the modern game.

“I just said to the team it’s four points in four days, eight hours on buses, it’s a big effort,” O’Brien said.

“There was some stuff there that wasn’t pretty and that we’ll fix, but it’s hard to be critical of them at the moment, they found a way to get themselves physically right but also mentally.

“It wasn’t clinical, it looked like we hadn’t trained, and we hadn’t [this week], and in the first half it looked like we had just met each other at times.

“We had a lot of ball on their line, I felt like we were frustrated and like we were entitled to score, but ‘Junior’ [Pearce] calmed them down. We finished the half much better thanks to him.”

Pearce scored a try just before the break when he stepped off his left foot and charged towards the line before he stuck out his hands for a deserved four-pointer.

He then did well to drift across field to send Mitch Barnett on his way early in the second half.

Pearce will be better for the run after missing almost a month because of a hamstring injury. He had not been back long after being sidelined with a torn pectoral muscle.

Knights captain Kalyn Ponga makes inroads against Brisbane on Thursday night.Credit:NRL Photos

Newcastle, however, are well off the pace with the competition front-runners.

The one thing in their favour is Pearce who knows all about September, and will build up his match fitness over the next four weeks against Cronulla, the Bulldogs, Titans and Broncos again. On paper, a Newcastle team with Pearce and Kalyn Ponga should not be troubled.

Mitchell Pearce makes a winning return from injury for the Knights.Credit:NRL Photos

They have hgad limited time with their first-choice spine of Pearce, Ponga, Jake Clifford and Jayden Brailey.

Knights legend Andrew Johns said on Channel Nine, publishers of this masthead, after the game: “It wasn’t that pretty, but a win is a win. Hopefully they can build some momentum from there.”

With some luck they can march into the finals on the back of six straight wins.

They will now enjoy a 10-day turnaround before facing the Sharks.

The Knights could not break the Brisbane line early as the Broncos completed 61 tackles compared to Newcastle’s none.

It was Tesi Niu who scored the first try of the night for the Broncos, and he later turned provider. Niu is off contract at the end of the season, and while there were some nice touches in attack, he looked shaky under a few high balls.

The Broncos can offer some nuisance value in the final month. They have definitely improved and meet the Sydney Roosters next Friday night. NRL officials would have seen that as a blockbuster when pulling together the draw at the end of last year.

Christian Nicolussi covers rugby league for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Share this post