In this week's Rookie Report, we take a look at the nib Newcastle Knights pathways teams in the Knock-On-Effect NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg Cup competitions.
The NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg sides kicked off their respective competitions on Sunday at Cessnock Sports Ground.
The Cup side took on the North Sydney Bears in Round 1 while the Flegg team tackled the Sydney Roosters.
See how each team fared:
NSW Cup - Knights 24-36 Bears
The Cup side went down in an enthralling affair against the North Sydney Bears with 10 tries scored in the game.
The away side opened the scoring on the 7th minute mark and doubled their advantage 17 minutes later.
The Bears went out to an 18-0 lead when Naufahu Whyte barged over 28 minutes into the contest before the Knights staged a fightback.
North Sydney were reduced to 12 when Sandon Smith was sent to the sin-bin and the red and blue capitalised.
Mat Croker and Dylan Lucas scored two quick-fire tries on the stroke of half-time to reduce the deficit to within six at the break.
Two minutes into the second half, the Knights were level after a darting move out of dummy-half from Luke Huth set up McKenzie Baker for a try under the posts.
The two sides traded tries shortly after with Tom Carr scoring for the Bears before Croker produced a quality offload for Dylan Phythian to score next to the sticks with 14 minutes to play.
At 24-all, the match was on a knives edge, however it was the Bears who would rally late to score two tries in the final ten minutes to take the two points.
The Knights will aim to bounce back from the narrow defeat when they take on the Western Suburbs Magpies next Monday.
NSW Cup Highlights: Knights v Bears
Jersey Flegg Cup - Knights 10-36 Roosters
The Jersey Flegg side suffered a 26-point defeat at the hands of the Roosters on Sunday.
Patrick Achurch got the Knights off to a promising start scoring four minutes into the fixture.
The Roosters levelled the scores on the 12th minute mark before Keanu Wainohu-Kemp brought the Knights back in front.
That was where the joy ended for Newcastle with the Roosters running in six unanswered tries to take the victory.
The Flegg side will look to improve when they face the Wests Tigers next Monday at Morry Green Oval, Central Coast.
