2011 Newcastle Knights season

Avg. attendance19,186High attendance30,729Top scorersTriesAkuila Uate (20)GoalsKurt Gidley (55)PointsKurt Gidley (130)

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The 2011 Newcastle Knights season was the 24th in the club's history. Coached by Rick Stone and captained by Kurt Gidley, they competed in the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership. The Knights finished the regular season in 8th place (out of 16), thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the Melbourne Storm in week 1.

Milestones

• Round 1: Neville Costigan made his debut for the club, after previously playing for the St. George Illawarra Dragons.
• Round 1: Beau Henry made his NRL debut for the club and scored his 1st career try.
• Round 6: Tyrone Roberts made his NRL debut for the club.
• Round 6: Steve Southern made his debut for the club, after previously playing for the North Queensland Cowboys.
• Round 10: Marvin Filipo made his NRL debut for the club.
• Round 11: Peter Mata'utia made his NRL debut for the club and scored his 1st career try.
• Round 13: Neville Costigan scored his 1st try for the club.
• Round 13: Antonio Kaufusi scored his 1st try for the club.
• Round 15: Ryan Stig made his NRL debut for the club.
• Round 16: Wes Naiqama captained his 1st game for the club.
• Round 17: Ryan Stig scored his 1st career try.
• Round 19: Ryan Stig kicked his 1st career goal.
• Round 20: Zane Tetevano made his NRL debut for the club.
• Round 25: Siuatonga Likiliki made his debut for the club, after previously playing for the New Zealand Warriors.
• Round 25: Zane Tetevano scored his 1st career try.
• Round 26: Adam MacDougall kicked his 1st career goal.
• Round 26: Akuila Uate scored 4 tries, equalling Darren Albert, Adam MacDougall, Andrew Johns and Cooper Vuna's record of most tries scored in a match by 1 player for the Knights.

Squad

Newcastle Knights

2011 NRL premiership squad						Extended squad players		Coaching staff
102 Adam MacDougall – CE (gk) 143 Kurt Gidley (c) – FB, FE, HB (gk) 167 Daniel Tolar – PR 179 Jarrod Mullen (vc) – HB 186 James McManus – WG 189 Cory Paterson – SR (mid-season loss) 191 Mark Taufua – PR 193 Marvin Karawana – LK 198 Zeb Taia – SR 200 Richard Fa'aoso – PR 201 Matt Hilder – HK, LK 202 Chris Houston – SR, LK 203 Wes Naiqama (vc) – CE, FB (gk)		205 Cameron Ciraldo – LK, SR, PR 206 Keith Lulia – CE, SR 208 Junior Sa'u – CE 209 Akuila Uate – WG 210 Isaac De Gois – HK 211 Ben Rogers – FE, HK 214 Shannon McDonnell – FB 215 Constantine Mika – SR, LK 217 Evarn Tuimavave – PR 218 Joel Edwards – LK, SR 219 Antonio Kaufusi – PR 220 Kevin Naiqama – WG 221 Neville Costigan – SR		222 Beau Henry – FE (mid-season loss) 223 Tyrone Roberts – FE, HB, FB 224 Steve Southern – LK 225 Marvin Filipo – SR, CE 226 Peter Mata'utia – WG, FB 227 Ryan Stig – FE, HB (gk) 228 Zane Tetevano – PR, SR 229 Siuatonga Likiliki – CE 000 Kyle O'Donnell – SR		Chris Adams – HK Josh Ailaomai – PR Ethan Cook – LK Api Pewhairangi – CE Chad Redman – HK Mitch Williams – WG Simon Williams – CE		Head coach Rick Stone Assistant coaches Andrew Dunemann Craig Sandercock Rip Taylor - NSW Cup coach Garth Brennan - NYC coach Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) Updated: 31 December 2011 Source(s): Newcastle Knights Profiles, Rugby League Project

Transfers and Re-signings

Gains

Player/Coach	Previous Club	Length
Chris Adams	Cessnock Goannas	2011
Neville Costigan	St. George Illawarra Dragons	2013
Beau Henry	St. George Illawarra Dragons	2013
Chris Houston	Free agent	2012
Siuatonga Likiliki	New Zealand Warriors	2012
Kyle O'Donnell	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2012
Steve Southern	North Queensland Cowboys	2011
Ryan Stig	Northern Pride RLFC	2011

Losses

Player/Coach	Club
Daniel Abraham	Kurri Kurri Bulldogs
Ben Cross	Leeds Rhinos
Scott Dureau	Catalans Dragons
Jimmy Fawcett	Umina Bunnies
Byron Fruean	Sydney Roosters
George Ndaira	Wests Tigers
Steve Simpson	Retirement
Sione Tovo	Wests Tigers
Cooper Vuna	Melbourne Rebels

Promoted juniors

Player	Junior side
Ethan Cook	Knights National Youth Competition
Api Pewhairangi	Knights National Youth Competition
Chad Redman	Knights National Youth Competition
Mitch Williams	Knights National Youth Competition

Re-signings

Player/Coach	Re-signed to
Chris Adams	2012
Ethan Cook	2012
Marvin Filipo	2012
Kurt Gidley	2015
Matt Hilder	2013
Peter Mata'utia	2013
Kevin Naiqama	2012
Wes Naiqama	2014
Api Pewhairangi	2012
Chad Redman	2012
Tyrone Roberts	2012
Junior Sa'u	2013
Ryan Stig	2013
Zane Tetevano	2013
Evarn Tuimavave	2012

Player contract situations

2011 (left)	2012	2013	2014	2015
Josh Ailaomai[1]	Chris Adams[2]	Neville Costigan[3]	Jarrod Mullen[4]	Kurt Gidley[5]
Cameron Ciraldo[6]	Ethan Cook[7]	Matt Hilder[8]	Wes Naiqama[9]
Isaac De Gois[10]	Joel Edwards[11]	Peter Mata'utia[12]
Beau Henry[13]	Richard Fa'aoso[14]	James McManus[15]
Marvin Karawana[16]	Marvin Filipo[17]	Junior Sa'u[18]
Antonio Kaufusi[19]	Chris Houston[20]	Ryan Stig[21]
Keith Lulia[22]	Siuatonga Likiliki[23]	Zane Tetevano[24]
Adam MacDougall[25]	Kevin Naiqama[26]	Akuila Uate[27]
Shannon McDonnell[28]	Kyle O'Donnell[29]
Constantine Mika[30]	Api Pewhairangi[31]
Cory Paterson[32]	Chad Redman[33]
Ben Rogers[34]	Tyrone Roberts[35]
Steve Southern[36]	Zeb Taia[37]
Mark Taufua[38]	Evarn Tuimavave[39]
Daniel Tolar[40]
Mitch Williams[41]
Simon Williams[42]

Ladder

v t e
Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne Storm	24	19	0	5	2	521	308	213	42
2	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (P)	24	18	0	6	2	539	331	208	40
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	18	0	6	2	511	372	139	40
4	Wests Tigers	24	15	0	9	2	519	430	89	34
5	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	14	1	9	2	483	341	142	33
6	New Zealand Warriors	24	14	0	10	2	504	393	111	32
7	North Queensland Cowboys	24	14	0	10	2	532	480	52	32
8	Newcastle Knights	24	12	0	12	2	478	443	35	28
9	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	12	0	12	2	449	489	-40	28
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	0	13	2	531	562	-31	26
11	Sydney Roosters	24	10	0	14	2	417	500	-83	24
12	Penrith Panthers	24	9	0	15	2	430	517	-87	22
13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	7	0	17	2	428	557	-129	18
14	Parramatta Eels	24	6	1	17	2	385	538	-153	17
15	Canberra Raiders	24	6	0	18	2	423	623	-200	16
16	Gold Coast Titans	24	6	0	18	2	363	629	-266	16

Jerseys and sponsors

In 2011, the Knights' jerseys were made by XBlades and their major sponsor was Coal & Allied.

2011 Home Jersey	2011 Away Jersey	2011 Close the Gap Jersey	2011 Heritage Jersey

Fixtures

Pre-season trials

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance
Saturday, 5 February	Trial 1	New Zealand Warriors	Wingham Park	22 – 22	J.Edwards, C.Houston, C.Adams, S.Williams	P.Mata'utia (3/4)
Sunday, 13 February	Trial 2	Fiji Bati	EnergyAustralia Stadium	72 – 0	P.Mata'utia (2), J.Ailaomai (2), K.Lulia, B.Henry, E.Cook, Z.Tetevano, S.Williams, C.Adams, K.Naiqama, W.Naiqama, S.Likiliki, A.Pewhairangi	W.Naiqama (3), P.Mata'utia (3), B.Henry (2)	2000
Saturday, 19 February	Trial 3	Penrith Panthers	Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie	22 – 28	M.Karawana, E.Tuimavave, I.De Gois, M.Taufua	W.Naiqama (2), C.Paterson (1)
Saturday, 26 February	Trial 4	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Olympic Park, Muswellbrook	32 – 10	J.Sa'u (2), I.De Gois (2), A.Uate, S.McDonnell	K.Gidley (3), W.Naiqama (1)
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw

Regular season

2011 Regular season fixtures

Statistics

Name	Appearances	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Points	Captain	Age
Cameron Ciraldo	14	1	0	0	4	0	27
Neville Costigan	15	3	0	0	12	0	26
Isaac De Gois	17	1	0	0	4	0	27
Joel Edwards	22	0	0	0	0	0	23
Richard Fa'aoso	22	2	0	0	8	0	27
Marvin Filipo	2	0	0	0	0	0	24
Kurt Gidley	18	5	55	0	130	18	29
Beau Henry	6	2	0	0	8	0	21
Matt Hilder	21	4	0	0	16	0	29
Chris Houston	25	3	0	0	12	0	26
Marvin Karawana	6	0	0	0	0	0	25
Antonio Kaufusi	24	2	0	0	8	0	27
Siuatonga Likiliki	2	0	0	0	0	0	21
Keith Lulia	13	2	0	0	8	0	24
Adam MacDougall	9	4	1	0	18	0	36
Peter Mata'utia	5	2	0	0	8	0	21
Shannon McDonnell	7	4	0	0	16	0	24
James McManus	23	10	0	0	40	0	25
Constantine Mika	2	0	0	0	0	0	22
Jarrod Mullen	21	2	0	0	8	5	24
Wes Naiqama	17	4	21	0	58	2	29
Cory Paterson	7	3	0	0	12	0	24
Tyrone Roberts	7	0	0	0	0	0	20
Ben Rogers	2	0	0	0	0	0	26
Junior Sa'u	21	4	0	0	16	0	24
Steve Southern	7	0	0	0	0	0	29
Ryan Stig	13	1	2	0	8	0	22
Zeb Taia	5	2	0	0	8	0	27
Mark Taufua	10	0	0	0	0	0	30
Zane Tetevano	5	1	0	0	4	0	21
Daniel Tolar	14	0	0	0	0	0	29
Evarn Tuimavave	20	0	0	0	0	0	27
Akuila Uate	23	20	0	0	80	0	24
Totals	25	82	79	0	486	-	Average: 25

33 players used.

Source:^[43]

Representative honours

The following players appeared in a representative match in 2011.

Australia

• Akuila Uate

Cook Islands

• Keith Lulia
• Zeb Taia
• Zane Tetevano

Indigenous All Stars

• Cory Paterson

Italy

• Cameron Ciraldo

Junior Kangaroos

• Tyrone Roberts (18th man)

New South Wales

• Kurt Gidley (captain)
• Akuila Uate

New South Wales Country

• Chris Houston
• Jarrod Mullen
• Akuila Uate

New South Wales Residents

• Constantine Mika
• Rip Taylor (assistant coach)

New South Wales under-18s

• Pat Mata'utia
• Ben Roose
• Tom Rouse
• Michael Steele

NRL All Stars

• Kurt Gidley
• Akuila Uate

Queensland under-18s

• Kurt Mann

Tonga

• Richard Fa'aoso

Individual honours

Dally M awards

Dally M Winger of the Year

• Akuila Uate

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Newcastle Knights awards

Player of the Year

• National Youth Competition (NYC) Player of the Year: Sam Anderson

Players' Player

• National Youth Competition (NYC) Players' Player: Sam Anderson

References