Newcastle Knights 30–16 Melbourne Storm — Qualifying Final, 2000 NRL Finals Series
5 Aug 2000 · Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW · Attendance: 20,597
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Qualifying Final, 2000 NRL finals series: Newcastle Knights 30–16 Melbourne Storm, at Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW on 5 Aug 2000.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture.
Scorers
| Newcastle Knights | Tries: Buderus; Gidley; Hughes; MacDougall; Tahu Goals: Johns (5/7 conversions) |
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Kimmorley; Martin Goals: Lavea (3/3 conversions); Watts (1/1 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Newcastle Knights | Melbourne Storm | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam MacDougall | Fullback | Matt Geyer | 1 |
| 2 | Darren Albert | Wing | Brad Watts | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Aaron Moule | 3 |
| 4 | Mark Hughes | Centre | Tony Martin | 4 |
| 5 | Timana Tahu | Wing | Marcus Bai | 5 |
| 6 | Matthew Johns | Five-Eighth | Scott Hill | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns | Halfback | Brett Kimmorley | 7 |
| 8 | Tony Butterfield (c) | Prop | Robbie Kearns (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Danny Buderus | Hooker | Richard Swain | 9 |
| 10 | Matt Parsons | Prop | Rodney Howe | 10 |
| 11 | David Fairleigh | Second Row | Paul Marquet | 11 |
| 12 | Ben Kennedy | Second Row | Stephen Kearney | 12 |
| 13 | Bill Peden | Lock | Matt Rua | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Sean Rudder | Danny Williams | 14 | |
| 15 | Peter Shiels | Brenton Pomery | 15 | |
| 16 | Steve Simpson | Russell Bawden | 16 | |
| 17 | Paul Rauhihi | Tasesa Lavea | 17 | |
| Warren Ryan | Coach | Chris Anderson | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Tim Mander |
Match report
Newcastle, rebuilding around the Johns brothers after their 1997 premiership, comfortably accounted for Melbourne's first finals campaign since their inaugural 1999 title. Five different try-scorers underlined Newcastle's attacking depth, while Melbourne — missing the injured Robbie Kearns for large stretches of the year — bowed out in straight sets.