2011 Newcastle Knights season

2011 Newcastle Knights season
NRL	8th
Play-off result	Qualifying Finalists
2011 record	Wins: 12; Draws: 0; Losses: 13
Points scored	For: 478; Against: 443
Team information
CEO	Steve Burraston, Matthew Gidley
Coach	Rick Stone
Captain	Kurt Gidley
Stadium	Hunter Stadium
Avg. Attend.	19,186
High. Attend.	30,729
Top scorers
Tries	Akuila Uate (20)
Goals	Kurt Gidley (55)
Points	Kurt Gidley (130)
< 2010 2012 >

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, finishing the regular season in 8th place (out of 16), thus reaching the finals. The Knights lost to the Melbourne Storm in their Qualifying Final.

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 try for the club, which was also 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 try for the club, which was also 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 try for the club, which was also his 1st career try.
• Round 19: Ryan Stig kicked his 1st goal for the club, which was also 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 try for the club, which was also his 1st career try.
• Round 26: Adam MacDougall kicked his 1st goal for the club, which was also 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

For the complete list of Newcastle Knights players, see List of Newcastle Knights players.

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, LK		Chris Adams - HK Josh Ailaomai - PR Ethan Cook - LK Api Pewhairangi - CE, FE 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 (vc) Vice captain 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
Ethan Cook	Newcastle Knights NYC	Promoted
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
Api Pewhairangi	Newcastle Knights NYC	Promoted
Chad Redman	Newcastle Knights NYC	Promoted
Steve Southern	North Queensland Cowboys	2011
Ryan Stig	Northern Pride RLFC	2011
Mitch Williams	Newcastle Knights NYC	Promoted

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

Re-signings

Player	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	Chris Adams	Neville Costigan	Jarrod Mullen	Kurt Gidley
Cameron Ciraldo	Ethan Cook	Matt Hilder	Wes Naiqama
Isaac De Gois	Joel Edwards	Peter Mata'utia
Beau Henry	Richard Fa'aoso	James McManus
Marvin Karawana	Marvin Filipo	Junior Sa'u
Antonio Kaufusi	Chris Houston	Ryan Stig
Keith Lulia	Siuatonga Likiliki	Zane Tetevano
Adam MacDougall	Kevin Naiqama	Akuila Uate
Shannon McDonnell	Kyle O'Donnell
Constantine Mika	Api Pewhairangi
Cory Paterson	Chad Redman
Ben Rogers	Tyrone Roberts
Steve Southern	Zeb Taia
Mark Taufua	Evarn Tuimavave
Daniel Tolar
Mitch Williams
Simon Williams

Ladder

2011 NRL Telstra Premiership
#	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne Storm	24	19	-	5	2	521	308	213	42
2	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (P)	24	18	-	6	2	539	331	208	40
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	18	-	6	2	511	372	139	40
4	Wests Tigers	24	15	-	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	-	10	2	504	393	111	32
7	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys	24	14	-	10	2	532	480	52	32
8	Newcastle Knights	24	12	-	12	2	478	443	35	28
9	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	12	-	12	2	449	489	-40	28
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	-	13	2	531	562	-31	26
11	Sydney Roosters	24	10	-	14	2	417	500	-83	24
12	Penrith Panthers	24	9	-	15	2	430	517	-87	22
13	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	7	-	17	2	428	557	-129	18
14	Parramatta Eels	24	6	1	17	2	385	538	-153	17
15	Canberra Raiders	24	6	-	18	2	423	623	-200	16
16	Gold Coast Titans	24	6	-	18	2	363	629	-266	16

Jerseys and sponsors

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

2011 Home Jersey	2011 Away Jersey	2011 Close the Gap Jersey	2011 Heritage Jersey
File:Newcastle Knights home jersey 2011.png	File:Newcastle Knights away jersey 2010.svg	No image	File:Newcastle Knights heritage jersey 2009.png

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:

Representative honours

See also: List of Newcastle Knights representatives

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)

NRL All Stars

• Kurt Gidley
• Akuila Uate

Tonga

• Richard Fa'aoso

Individual honours

Dally M awards

2011 Dally M Winger of the Year

• Akuila Uate

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Newcastle Knights awards

Player of the Year

• 2011 National Youth Competition (NYC) Player of the Year: Sam Anderson

Players' Player

• 2011 National Youth Competition (NYC) Players' Player: Sam Anderson