# 2024 Newcastle Knights season

The 2024 Newcastle Knights season was the 37th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and captained by Kalyn Ponga, they competed in the NRL's 2024 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 8th place (out of 17), thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the North Queensland Cowboys in week 1.

## Transfers and re-signings
### Gains

| Player/Coach | Previous club | Length |
| Jed Cartwright | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 2025 |
| Jack Cogger | Penrith Panthers | 2026 |
| Zach Herring | St. George Illawarra Dragons | 2024 |
| Thomas Jenkins | Penrith Panthers | 2025 |
| Fletcher Myers | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 2024 |
| Kai Pearce-Paul | Wigan Warriors | 2025 |
| Will Pryce | Huddersfield Giants | 2025 |

### Losses

| Player/Coach | Club |
| Dane Aukafolau | Northern Pride RLFC |
| Fa'amanu Brown | Hull F.C. |
| Jed Cartwright | Hull F.C. |
| Adam Clune | Huddersfield Giants |
| Lachlan Fitzgibbon | Warrington Wolves |
| Tony Gleeson (Jersey Flegg Cup coach) | Released |
| Bailey Hodgson | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles |
| Hymel Hunt | Released |
| Jack Johns | Released |
| Oryn Keeley | Dolphins |
| David Klemmer | Wests Tigers |
| Kurt Mann | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs |
| Lachie Miller | Leeds Rhinos |
| Michael Monaghan (NSW Cup coach) | Gold Coast Titans |
| Fletcher Myers | South Sydney Rabbitohs |
| Chris Randall | Gold Coast Titans |
| Ryan Rivett | Toulouse Olympique |
| Kobe Rugless | Blacktown Workers |
| Simi Sasagi | Canberra Raiders |
| Ben Talty | North Sydney Bears |
| Tevita Toloi | Released |
| Chris Vea'ila | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
| Dom Young | Sydney Roosters |

### Promoted juniors

| Player | Junior side |
| Paul Bryan | Jersey Flegg Cup |
| Kyle McCarthy | S. G. Ball Cup |
| Laitia Moceidreke | NSW Cup |
| Fletcher Sharpe | Jersey Flegg Cup |
| Sebastian Su'a | NSW Cup |

### Re-signings

| Player/Coach | Re-signed to |
| Bradman Best | 2027 |
| Tom Cant | 2026 |
| Mat Croker | 2025 |
| Dane Gagai | 2026 |
| Tyson Gamble | 2026 |
| Adam O'Brien (head coach) | 2027 |
| Jacob Saifiti | 2027 |
| Fletcher Sharpe | 2026 |

### Change of role

| Player/Coach | New role | Source |
| Michael Dobson (Head of Pathways) | Jersey Flegg Cup coach | |
| Ronald Griffiths (NRLW coach) | NSW Cup coach | |

### Player contract situations

| 2024 (left) | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
| David Armstrong | Jayden Brailey | Tom Cant | Bradman Best |
| Jed Cartwright | Paul Bryan | Jack Cogger | Kyle McCarthy |
| Zach Herring | Mat Croker | Phoenix Crossland | Kalyn Ponga |
| Thomas Jenkins | Adam Elliott | Tyson Frizell | Jacob Saifiti |
| Krystian Mapapalangi | Jackson Hastings | Dane Gagai | |
| Myles Martin | Jack Hetherington | Tyson Gamble | |
| Laitia Moceidreke | Brodie Jones | Greg Marzhew | |
| Fletcher Myers | Riley Jones | Fletcher Sharpe | |
| Ryan Rivett | Dylan Lucas | | |
| Daniel Saifiti | Kai Pearce-Paul | | |
| Enari Tuala | Will Pryce | | |
| | Sebastian Su'a | | |
| | Leo Thompson | | |

## Fixtures
### Pre-season trials

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Score | Tries | Conversions | Attendance |
| Saturday, 17 February | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Industree Group Stadium | 44–18 | D.Armstrong (2), D.Lucas (2), K.McCarthy, R.Jones, J.Cogger, W.Pryce | J.Cogger (3/3), W.Pryce (2/4), T.Gamble (1/1) | 7,952 |
| Saturday, 24 February | Melbourne Storm | Churchill Park | 10-28 | E.Tuala, B.Best | K.Ponga (1/2) | 5,218 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw |||||||
Source:

### Ladder

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 692 | 449 | +243 | 44 | Advance to finals series |
| 2 | Penrith Panthers (P) | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 580 | 394 | +186 | 40 | Advance to finals series |
| 3 | Sydney Roosters | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 738 | 463 | +275 | 38 | Advance to finals series |
| 4 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 653 | 431 | +222 | 38 | Advance to finals series |
| 5 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 657 | 568 | +89 | 36 | Advance to finals series |
| 6 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 529 | 433 | +96 | 34 | Advance to finals series |
| 7 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 634 | 521 | +113 | 33 | Advance to finals series |
| 8 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 470 | 510 | −40 | 30 | Advance to finals series |
| 9 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 474 | 601 | −127 | 30 | |
| 10 | Dolphins | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 577 | 578 | −1 | 28 | |
| 11 | St. George Illawarra Dragons | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 508 | 634 | −126 | 28 | |
| 12 | Brisbane Broncos | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 537 | 607 | −70 | 26 | |
| 13 | New Zealand Warriors | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 512 | 574 | −62 | 25 | |
| 14 | Gold Coast Titans | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 488 | 656 | −168 | 22 | |
| 15 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 561 | 716 | −155 | 20 | |
| 16 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 494 | 682 | −188 | 20 | |
| 17 | Wests Tigers | 24 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 463 | 750 | −287 | 18 | |

### Result by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | N | – | H | A | H | – | H | A | A | H | – | A | H | A | A | H | H |
| Result | L | L | W | L | W | L | L | W | W | W | W | B | L | L | L | B | W | W | L | L | B | L | W | L | W | W | W |
| Position | 14 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Points | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 |

### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 13 November 2023.
Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Finals series
### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Statistics

| Name | Appearances | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points | Captain | Age |
| David Armstrong | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 23 |
| Bradman Best | 17 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 23 |
| Jayden Brailey | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 28 |
| Tom Cant | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Jed Cartwright | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| Jack Cogger | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 27 |
| Mat Croker | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 |
| Phoenix Crossland | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| Adam Elliott | 23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 30 |
| Tyson Frizell | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 13 | 33 |
| Dane Gagai | 22 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 52 | 4 | 33 |
| Tyson Gamble | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 28 |
| Jackson Hastings | 16 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 28 |
| Jack Hetherington | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28 |
| Thomas Jenkins | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Brodie Jones | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 26 |
| Dylan Lucas | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 24 |
| Krystian Mapapalangi | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 22 |
| Greg Marzhew | 22 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 27 |
| Kyle McCarthy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Kai Pearce-Paul | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
| Kalyn Ponga | 16 | 3 | 46 | 0 | 104 | 16 | 26 |
| Will Pryce | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 22 |
| Daniel Saifiti | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 28 |
| Jacob Saifiti | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28 |
| Fletcher Sharpe | 12 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 20 |
| Sebastian Su'a | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Leo Thompson | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| Enari Tuala | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 26 |
| Totals | 25 | 83 | 76 | 0 | 486 | – | Average: 25 |
29 players used.
Source:

## Milestones

* Round 1: Kai Pearce-Paul made his NRL debut for the club, after previously playing for the Wigan Warriors.
* Round 2: Jed Cartwright made his debut for the club, after previously playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
* Round 2: Adam Elliott scored his first try for the club.
* Round 2: Thomas Jenkins made his debut for the club, after previously playing for the Penrith Panthers.
* Round 6: Greg Marzhew played his 50th career game.
* Round 8: David Armstrong made his NRL debut for the club and scored his first career try.
* Round 8: Jacob Saifiti played his 150th career game.
* Round 10: Leo Thompson played his 50th career game.
* Round 11: Enari Tuala played his 100th career game.
* Round 14: Jayden Brailey played his 50th game for the club.
* Round 14: Fletcher Sharpe made his NRL debut for the club and scored his first career try.
* Round 17: Will Pryce made his NRL debut for the club, after previously playing for the Huddersfield Giants, scoring a try.
* Round 18: Tyson Frizell played his 250th career game.
* Round 18: Will Pryce kicked his first goal for the club.
* Round 19: Mat Croker played his 50th career game.
* Round 19: Jackson Hastings played his 100th career game.
* Round 23: Krystian Mapapalangi scored his first career try.
* Round 24: Kyle McCarthy made his NRL debut for the club.
* Round 24: Kai Pearce-Paul scored his first try for the club.
* Round 25: Sebastian Su'a made his NRL debut for the club.

## NRL Women's team

The 2024 Newcastle Knights Women's season was the 4th in the club's history. Coached by Ben Jeffries and captained by Hannah Southwell, they competed in the NRLW's 2024 NRL Women's Premiership, finishing the regular season in 3rd place (out of 10), thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the Sydney Roosters in the Grand Final qualifier.

### Player gains and losses

Player gains :
| Player/Coach | Previous club | Length |
| Leilani Ahsam | Tweed Heads Seagulls | 2025 |
| Ben Jeffries (head coach) | North Queensland Cowboys | 2026 |
| Grace Kukutai | Chiefs Manawa | 2025 |
| Isabella Waterman | Hurricanes Poua | 2025 |
| Tenika Willison | New Zealand Black Ferns Sevens | 2025 |
Losses :
| Player/Coach | Club |
| Tiana Davison | Sydney Roosters |
| Ronald Griffiths (head coach) | Knights NSW Cup coach |
| Felila Kia | Released |
| Tamerah Leati | Released |
| Tazmyne Luschwitz | Released |
| Caitlin Moran | Illawarra Steelers |
| Jasmin Strange | Sydney Roosters |
| Tylah Vallance | Released |
Promoted juniors :
| Player | Junior side |
| Evah McEwen | Knights Tarsha Gale Cup |
| Leah Ollerton | Knights Tarsha Gale Cup |
| Lilly-Ann White | Knights Tarsha Gale Cup |
Player re-signings :
| Player/Coach | Re-signed to |
| Jacinta Carter | 2027 |
| Fane Finau | 2026 |
| Sheridan Gallagher | 2025 |
| Olivia Higgins | 2026 |
| Simone Karpani | 2026 |
| Nita Maynard | 2024 |
| Viena Tinao | 2025 |

#### Player contract situations

| 2024 (left) | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
| Laishon Albert-Jones | Leilani Ahsam | Fane Finau | Evie Jones |
| Rima Butler | Yasmin Clydsdale | Olivia Higgins | Evah McEwen |
| Jacinta Carter | Sheridan Gallagher | Simone Karpani | Georgia Roche |
| Jayde Herdegen | Grace Kukutai | Jules Kirkpatrick | Hannah Southwell |
| Caitlan Johnston-Green | Leah Ollerton | Tayla Predebon | Jesse Southwell |
| Tamerah Leati | Shanice Parker | Kayla Romaniuk | |
| Nita Maynard | Viena Tinao | | |
| Abigail Roache | Isabella Waterman | | |
| Tamika Upton | Lilly-Ann White | | |
| | Tenika Willison | | |

### Women's statistics

| Name | Appearances | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points | Captain | Age |
| Laishon Albert-Jones | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 27 |
| Rima Butler | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 27 |
| Jacinta Carter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Yasmin Clydsdale | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 30 |
| Sheridan Gallagher | 8 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 22 |
| Olivia Higgins | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 32 |
| Caitlan Johnston-Green | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
| Evie Jones | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 19 |
| Simone Karpani | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Grace Kukutai | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Nita Maynard | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Evah McEwen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 18 |
| Shanice Parker | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 26 |
| Tayla Predebon | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| Abigail Roache | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 24 |
| Georgia Roche | 10 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 24 |
| Kayla Romaniuk | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 22 |
| Hannah Southwell | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 25 |
| Jesse Southwell | 9 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 19 |
| Viena Tinao | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Tamika Upton | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 27 |
| Isabella Waterman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Lilly-Ann White | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 19 |
| Tenika Willison | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 27 |
| Totals | 10 | 49 | 29 | 0 | 254 | – | Average: 24 |
24 players used.
Source:

## Representative honours

The following players appeared in a representative match or were named in a representative squad in 2024.
Australia
* Bradman Best (squad member)
Australia (Women's)
* Yasmin Clydsdale
* Olivia Higgins
* Jesse Southwell (squad member)
* Tamika Upton
Indigenous All Stars
* Adam Elliott
* Ronald Griffiths (coach)
Indigenous All Stars (Women's)
* Tamika Upton
Māori All Stars
* Dane Gagai
* Leo Thompson
Māori All Stars (Women's)
* Rima Butler
* Shanice Parker
New South Wales
* Bradman Best
New South Wales (Women's)
* Yasmin Clydsdale
* Olivia Higgins
* Caitlan Johnston-Green
New Zealand
* Phoenix Crossland
* Leo Thompson
New Zealand (Women's)
* Laishon Albert-Jones (extended squad)
* Shanice Parker
* Abigail Roache
Prime Minister's XIII
* Dylan Lucas
* Fletcher Sharpe
Prime Minister's XIII (Women's)
* Jesse Southwell
Queensland
* Dane Gagai
* Kalyn Ponga
Queensland (Women's)
* Tamika Upton
Samoa (Women's)
* Simone Karpani
* Evah McEwen