2025 Newcastle Knights season

Last updated

2025 Newcastle Knights season
Team information
CEO Phil Gardner
Coach Adam O'Brien
Captain
Stadium McDonald Jones Stadium
←  2024 2026  →

The 2025 Newcastle Knights season will be the 38th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and captained by Kalyn Ponga, they will compete in the NRL's 2025 Telstra Premiership.

Contents

Squad

Newcastle Knights 2025 squad
2025 NRL top 30 squadDevelopment listCoaching staff

Extended squad

Head coach

Assistant coaches

Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Updated: 12 October 2024
Source(s): Newcastle Knights Profiles,
Rugby League Project

Transfers and re-signings

Gains

Player/CoachPrevious clubLengthSource
Taj Annan Queensland Reds 2027 [1]
Matt Arthur Parramatta Eels 2027 [2]
Francis Manuleleua Penrith Panthers 2027 [1]
James Schiller Canberra Raiders 2027 [3]
Tyrone Thompson Chiefs 2025 [4]

Losses

Player/CoachClubSource
David Armstrong Leigh Leopards [5]
Jed Cartwright Hull F.C. [6]
Ronald Griffiths (NSW Cup coach) New Zealand Warriors [7]
Zach Herring Featherstone Rovers [8]
Thomas Jenkins Released [9]
Rory Kostjasyn (assistant coach) Dolphins [10]
Krystian Mapapalangi Released [9]
Myles Martin Canberra Raiders [11]
Fletcher Myers South Sydney Rabbitohs [12]
Laitia Moceidreke Released
Ryan Rivett Toulouse Olympique [13]
Daniel Saifiti Dolphins [14]
Enari Tuala Released [9]
PlayerJunior sideSource
Wilson De Courcey Jersey Flegg Cup [15]
Cody Hopwood Jersey Flegg Cup [16]
Jermaine McEwen Jersey Flegg Cup [16]
Connor Votano Jersey Flegg Cup [16]

Player contract situations

2025 (off-contract)202620272028
Jayden Brailey [17] Tom Cant [18] Taj Annan [1] Cody Hopwood [16]
Paul Bryan [19] Jack Cogger [20] Matt Arthur [2]
Mat Croker [15] Phoenix Crossland [21] Bradman Best [22]
Adam Elliott [23] Wilson De Courcey [15] Dylan Lucas [24]
Jackson Hastings [25] Tyson Frizell [26] Francis Manuleleua [1]
Jack Hetherington [23] Dane Gagai [27] Kyle McCarthy [28]
Brodie Jones [29] Tyson Gamble [30] Jermaine McEwen [16]
Riley Jones [19] Greg Marzhew [31] Kalyn Ponga [32]
Kai Pearce-Paul [33] Fletcher Sharpe [34] Jacob Saifiti [35]
Will Pryce [33] James Schiller [3]
Sebastian Su'a [36]
Leo Thompson [37]
Tyrone Thompson [4]
Connor Votano [16]

Pre-season

Newcastle will play the Parramatta Eels in Newcastle and the Sydney Roosters in Gosford as their pre-season fixtures. Both matches were part of the third edition of the NRL Pre-season Challenge. [38]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

Round 1: 14 February 2025Newcastle Knights Newcastle colours.svg v Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels Newcastle
18:00 AEDT
Report
Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium
Round 2: 23 February 2025 Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs colours.svg v Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Gosford
16:00 AEDT
Report
Stadium: Industree Group Stadium

Regular season

Ladder

PosTeam
PldWDLBPFPAPDPtsQualification
1 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 000000000Advance to finals series
2 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 000000000
3 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 000000000
4 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 000000000
5 Dolphins colours.png Dolphins 000000000
6 Gold Coast Titans colours.svg Gold Coast Titans 000000000
7 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 000000000
8 Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm 000000000
9 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights 000000000
10 Auckland colours.svg New Zealand Warriors 000000000
11 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys 000000000
12 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 000000000
13 Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2020 colours.svg Penrith Panthers 000000000
14 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 000000000
15 St. George colours.svg St. George Illawarra Dragons 000000000
16 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters 000000000
17 Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers 000000000

Results by round

Round1
GroundA
Result
Position
Points
Source: National Rugby League
A = Away; H = Home; N = Neutral; B = Bye; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

The league fixtures were released on 21 November 2024. [39]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

Round 1: 7 March 2025 Wests Tigers Wests Tigers colours.svg v Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Campbelltown
18:00 AEDT
Report
Stadium: Campbelltown Sports Stadium
Round 2: 13 March 2025Newcastle Knights Newcastle colours.svg v Dolphins colours.png Dolphins Newcastle
20:00 AEDT
Report
Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium
Round 3: 22 March 2025 Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans colours.svg v Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Gold Coast
19:35 AEDT
Report
Stadium: Cbus Super Stadium
Round 4 (Bye for Newcastle Knights)
Round 9: 3 May 2025 South Sydney Rabbitohs South Sydney colours.svg v Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Brisbane
15:00 AEST
Report
Stadium: Suncorp Stadium
Round 11: 16 May 2025Newcastle Knights Newcastle colours.svg v Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels Newcastle
18:00 AEST
Report
Stadium: McDonald Jones Stadium
Round 18 (Bye for Newcastle Knights)
Round 22 (Bye for Newcastle Knights)
Round 27: 7 September 2025 Parramatta Eels Parramatta colours.svg v Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights Parramatta
16:05 AEST
Report
Stadium: CommBank Stadium

NRL Women's team

2025 Newcastle Knights season
Team information
CEO Phil Gardner
Coach Ben Jeffries
Captain
Stadium McDonald Jones Stadium
←  2024 2026 →

The 2025 Newcastle Knights Women's season will be the 5th in the club's history. Coached by Ben Jeffries and captained by Hannah Southwell, they will compete in the NRLW's 2025 NRL Women's Premiership.

Newcastle Knights women's – current squad
2025 NRLW top 24 squadDevelopment listCoaching staff

Head coach


Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Updated: 12 October 2024
Source(s): Newcastle Knights Profiles,
Rugby League Project

Player gains and losses

Player gains
Player/CoachPrevious clubLengthSource
Tiana Davison Sydney Roosters 2027 [40]
Mercedez Taulelei-Siala Tweed Heads Seagulls 2025 [41]
Botille Vette-Welsh Wests Tigers 2027 [42]
Losses
Player/CoachClubSource
Laishon Albert-Jones New Zealand Warriors [43]
Rima Butler Sydney Roosters [44]
Jacinta Carter Released [45]
Jayde Herdegen Released [46]
Caitlan Johnston-Green Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks [47]
Tamerah Leati Released [48]
Nita Maynard Released [45]
Abigail Roache Released [45]
Tamika Upton Brisbane Broncos [49]
Promoted juniors
PlayerJunior sideSource
Joeli Morris Knights NSW Women's Premiership [40]

Player contract situations

202520262027
Leilani Ahsam [50] Fane Finau [51] Tiana Davison [40]
Yasmin Clydsdale [52] Olivia Higgins [53] Evie Jones [54]
Sheridan Gallagher [55] Simone Karpani [53] Evah McEwen [56]
Grace Kukutai [40] Jules Kirkpatrick [57] Georgia Roche [58]
Leah Ollerton [53] Joeli Morris [40] Hannah Southwell [59]
Shanice Parker [50] Tayla Predebon [54] Jesse Southwell [59]
Mercedez Taulelei-Siala [41] Kayla Romaniuk [54] Botille Vette-Welsh [42]
Viena Tinao [53] Tenika Willison [60]
Isabella Waterman [53]
Lilly-Ann White [53]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newcastle Knights</span> Australian rugby league football club

The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in 1988, 79 years after the previous Newcastle based team, the Newcastle Rebels had departed the Sydney competition with the formation of a separate league competition based in the Newcastle region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalyn Ponga</span> Australian rugby league footballer

Kalyn Ponga is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a fullback for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL). He is the recipient of the 2023 Dally M Medal.

The 2018 Newcastle Knights season was the 31st in the club's history. Coached by Nathan Brown and co-captained by Jamie Buhrer and Mitchell Pearce, they competed in the NRL's 2018 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 11th place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nita Maynard</span> Australia and New Zealand international rugby union & league footballer

Nita Maynard is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NRL Women's Premiership</span> Australasian rugby league football competition

The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. The current Premiers are the Sydney Roosters.

The 2019 Newcastle Knights season was the 32nd in the club's history. Coached by Nathan Brown, interim coached by Kristian Woolf after Brown's contract was terminated, and captained by Mitchell Pearce, they competed in the NRL's 2019 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 11th place.

The 2020 Newcastle Knights season was the 33rd in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and captained by Mitchell Pearce, they competed in the NRL's 2020 Telstra Premiership. On 23 March, the NRL announced that the season would be suspended after round 2, until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NRL returned on 28 May with a new draw, the Knights' round 3 game coming on 31 May against the Penrith Panthers. The Knights finished the regular season in 7th place, thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in week 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caitlan Johnston-Green</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Caitlan Johnston-Green is an Australian rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL Women's Premiership. Her position is prop.

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Kiana Takairangi is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Cronulla Sharks in the NRL Women's Premiership.

The 2021 Newcastle Knights season was the 34th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and co-captained by Jayden Brailey, Kalyn Ponga and Daniel Saifiti, they competed in the NRL's 2021 Telstra Premiership. In July, the NRL relocated the competition to Queensland to avoid an outbreak of the Deltra variant COVID-19 virus in New South Wales. The Knights finished the regular season in 7th place, thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the Parramatta Eels in week 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mat Croker</span> Australian rugby league player

Mathew Croker is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and lock for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lachie Miller</span> Australian rugby league player

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The 2022 Newcastle Knights season was the 35th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and co-captained by Jayden Brailey and Kalyn Ponga, they competed in the NRL's 2022 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 14th place.

The 2022 NRLW Premiership was the fifth professional season of Women's rugby league in Australia. The season started on Saturday, 20 August and ran for seven weekends. This comprised five rounds, semi-finals for the top four teams, and a Grand Final that was played on Sunday 2 October as a curtain raiser to the 2022 men's Grand Final. This was the last season before the NRLW goes professional.

The 2023 NRLW Premiership was the sixth professional season of Women's rugby league in Australia. As announced in March 2022 by the governing body, the National Rugby League, the number of teams increased from six to ten.
The duration of the season was confirmed by the NRL in a media release on 14 February 2023 as nine rounds followed by semi-finals and a Grand Final.

The 2023 Newcastle Knights season was the 36th in the club's history. Coached by Adam O'Brien and co-captained by Jayden Brailey and Kalyn Ponga, they competed in the NRL's 2023 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 5th place, thus reaching the finals. The Knights made it to the second week of finals, before being knocked out by the New Zealand Warriors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rima Butler</span> Australian rugby league player

Rima Butler is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL Women's Premiership. Her position is prop. She previously played for the Parramatta Eels and Newcastle Knights.

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, thus reaching the finals but were knocked out after losing to the North Queensland Cowboys in week 1.

The 2025 NRL Women's season will be the eighth professional season of the NRL Women's Premiership. The number of teams (twelve) is an increase on the 2024 season by the readmission of the New Zealand Warriors and the introduction of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. The expansion in 2025 was confirmed by the NRL in March 2024. The start date and duration of the season was confirmed by the NRL with the release of the draw on 21 November 2024.

References

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  3. 1 2 "Star's blitz shows Raiders what they'll miss; stunning Pangai Jnr return: Reserves wrap". Fox Sports. 27 May 2024.
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  8. ↑ "Rovers bring in Australian half Zach Herring for 2025 – Featherstone Rovers Rugby League".
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  10. ↑ Chalk, Ethan Lee (4 October 2024). "Dolphins appoint two new assistant coaches". Zero Tackle.
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  15. 1 2 3 "Knights re-sign Mat Croker". Newcastle Knights. 1 October 2024.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Pathways strength on show as key juniors re-sign". Newcastle Knights. 20 September 2024.
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  18. ↑ "Young gun extends for two seasons". Newcastle Knights. 27 August 2024.
  19. 1 2 "2024 NRL Signings Tracker: Gamble inks new Knights deal; Townsend joins Roosters". National Rugby League. 5 July 2024.
  20. ↑ "Knights sign Cogger". Newcastle Knights. 2 August 2023.
  21. ↑ "Knights Re-Sign Crossland". Newcastle Knights. 25 October 2023.
  22. ↑ "Knights re-sign Bradman Best". Newcastle Knights. 13 February 2024.
  23. 1 2 "Knights take two big forward steps". Newcastle Knights. 10 June 2022.
  24. ↑ "Dylan Lucas re-signs". Newcastle Knights. 25 October 2024.
  25. ↑ "Knights sign Jackson Hastings". Newcastle Knights. 16 November 2022.
  26. ↑ "Frizell re-signs with the Knights". Newcastle Knights. 27 July 2023.
  27. ↑ "Gagai re-signs with the Knights". Newcastle Knights. 10 May 2024.
  28. ↑ Dillon, Robert (19 August 2024). "Newcastle Knights rookie Kyle McCarthy reflects on his NRL debut". Newcastle Herald.
  29. ↑ "Knights re-sign Brodie Jones". Newcastle Knights. 23 October 2024.
  30. ↑ "Knights all in as Gamble re-signs". Newcastle Knights. 5 July 2024.
  31. ↑ "Knights extend Marzhew". Newcastle Knights. 30 August 2023.
  32. ↑ "Kalyn Ponga Re-Signs". Newcastle Knights. 20 April 2022.
  33. 1 2 "Knights announce English signings". Newcastle Knights. 5 December 2022.
  34. ↑ "Knights elevate outside backs". Newcastle Knights. 29 February 2024.
  35. ↑ "Knights re-sign Jacob Saifiti". Newcastle Knights. 28 November 2023.
  36. ↑ "2024 NRL Signings Tracker: Montoya, Tevaga once were Warriors". National Rugby League. 11 October 2024.
  37. ↑ "Three more years for rising star Leo Thompson". Newcastle Knights. 28 July 2022.
  38. ↑ "2025 NRL Pre-Season Challenge". National Rugby League. 21 November 2024.
  39. ↑ "2025 NRL Telstra Premiership schedule". National Rugby League. 21 November 2024.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 "Knights secure key NRLW signatures". Newcastle Knights. 23 October 2024.
  41. 1 2 "Instagram". www.instagram.com.
  42. 1 2 "Knights sign Botille Vette-Welsh". Newcastle Knights. 9 December 2024.
  43. ↑ "Albert-Jones: Ron's a coach who genuinely cares". Warriors. 16 September 2024.
  44. ↑ "Rima Butler to join the Roosters". Sydney Roosters. 14 October 2024.
  45. 1 2 3 "Instagram". www.instagram.com.
  46. ↑ "Host of international and NRLW experience bolsters Knights". Newcastle Knights. 10 May 2023.
  47. ↑ "World-class Johnston to join Sharks in 2025". Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. 2 May 2024.
  48. ↑ "Knights sign Rugby International for 2024 NRLW season". Newcastle Knights. 31 July 2024.
  49. ↑ "Upton Returns Home To The Broncos". Brisbane Broncos. 5 December 2024.
  50. 1 2 "Knights confirm 2024 NRLW squad". Newcastle Knights. 24 May 2024.
  51. ↑ "2024 NRLW Signings Tracker: Knights re-sign Willison; Bent extends at Titans". National Rugby League. 11 October 2024.
  52. ↑ "Clydsdale commits for Knights NRLW charge". Newcastle Knights. 13 April 2023.
  53. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Knights announce 2024 NRLW signings". Newcastle Knights. 8 December 2023.
  54. 1 2 3 "Knights lock in NRLW locals". Newcastle Knights. 19 July 2024.
  55. ↑ "Knights re-sign Sheridan Gallagher". Newcastle Knights. 19 January 2024.
  56. ↑ "Evah McEwen extends". Newcastle Knights. 10 December 2024.
  57. ↑ "Knights secure NRLW rising stars". Newcastle Knights. 11 September 2024.
  58. ↑ "NRLW, Newcastle Knights, Georgia Roche, Telstra Hersday, English star talks about the biggest move of her life | Knights". Newcastle Knights. 20 July 2023.
  59. 1 2 "Home is where the heart is for Southwell sisters". Newcastle Knights. 19 April 2023.
  60. ↑ "Knights re-sign Tenika Willison". Newcastle Knights. 11 October 2024.
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