Newcastle Knights 17–12 North Sydney Bears — Preliminary Final, 1997-arl NRL Finals Series
20 Sep 1997 · Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 22,540
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 1997-arl NRL finals series: Newcastle Knights 17–12 North Sydney Bears, at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 20 Sep 1997.
Sourcing caveat: Confirmed named scorers total Newcastle 16 of 17 points (1 point unaccounted, plausibly an unconfirmed field goal not attributable to a named player from the source).
Scorers
| Newcastle Knights | Tries: Owen Craigie; Robbie O'Davis; Bill Peden Goals: Andrew Johns (2/2) |
| North Sydney Bears | Tries: Michael Buettner; Nigel Roy Goals: Jason Taylor (2/5) |
Team sheets
| Newcastle Knights | North Sydney Bears | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie O'Davis | Fullback | Matt Seers | 1 |
| 2 | Darren Albert | Wing | Brett Dallas | 2 |
| 3 | Adam MacDougall | Centre | Ben Ikin | 3 |
| 4 | Owen Craigie | Centre | Michael Buettner | 4 |
| 5 | Mark Hughes | Wing | Nigel Roy | 5 |
| 6 | Matthew Johns | Five-Eighth | Greg Florimo | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns | Halfback | Jason Taylor (c) | 7 |
| 8 | Tony Butterfield | Prop | Josh Stuart | 8 |
| 9 | Bill Peden | Hooker | Mark Reber | 9 |
| 10 | Paul Harragon (c) | Prop | Steve Trindall | 10 |
| 11 | Wayne Richards | Second Row | Gary Larson | 11 |
| 12 | Adam Muir | Second Row | Danny Williams | 12 |
| 13 | Marc Glanville | Lock | Billy Moore | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Troy Fletcher | David Fairleigh | 14 | |
| 15 | Steve Crowe | David Hall | 15 | |
| 16 | Leo Dynevor | Chris Caruana | 16 | |
| 17 | Scott Conley | Brenton Pomery | 17 | |
| Malcolm Reilly | Coach | Peter Louis | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Kelvin Jeffes |