Newcastle Knights 15–26 Sydney Roosters — Major Semi-Final, 1998 NRL Finals Series
5 Sep 1998 · Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW · Attendance: 26,482
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Major Semi-Final, 1998 NRL finals series: Newcastle Knights 15–26 Sydney Roosters, at Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW on 5 Sep 1998.
Sourcing caveat: Andrew Johns's field goal (confirmed via a Newcastle Herald results recap) accounts for the point that the original match-page scoresheet extraction did not initially reconcile. Sydney Roosters were officially branded "Sydney City Roosters" in 1998, recorded here under this project's canonical "Sydney Roosters" string.
Scorers
| Newcastle Knights | Tries: Buderus; Hughes; Moodie Goals: A. Johns (1/3 conversions) Drop goals: A. Johns (field goal) |
| Sydney Roosters | Tries: Barnett; Gourley; Junee; Ricketson; Sing; Wood Goals: Cleary (1/6 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Newcastle Knights | Sydney Roosters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Hughes | Fullback | Darren Junee | 1 |
| 2 | Jason Moodie | Wing | Jack Elsegood | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Matt Sing | 3 |
| 4 | Brett Grogan | Centre | Ivan Cleary | 4 |
| 5 | Sean Rudder | Wing | Richie Barnett | 5 |
| 6 | Matthew Johns (c) | Five-Eighth | Brad Fittler (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns | Halfback | Adrian Lam | 7 |
| 8 | Tony Butterfield | Prop | Scott Logan | 8 |
| 9 | Danny Buderus | Hooker | Simon Bonetti | 9 |
| 10 | Glenn Grief | Prop | Peter Cusack | 10 |
| 11 | Neil Piccinelli | Second Row | Luke Ricketson | 11 |
| 12 | Peter Shiels | Second Row | Scott Gourley | 12 |
| 13 | Bill Peden | Lock | Nigel Gaffey | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Troy Fletcher | Shane Rigon | 14 | |
| 15 | Paul Harragon | Bryan Fletcher | 15 | |
| 16 | Lee Jackson | Nathan Wood | 16 | |
| 17 | David Lomax | Julian Bailey | 17 | |
| Malcolm Reilly | Coach | Phil Gould | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Kelvin Jeffes |
Match report
A six-try demolition job by Sydney City Roosters on Newcastle's home ground sent the Knights into a do-or-die Elimination Preliminary Final, while the Roosters earned a week off before their own Preliminary Final.