Newcastle Knights 18–10 Cronulla-Sutherland — Preliminary Final, 2001 NRL Finals Series
22 Sep 2001 · Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 31,438
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2001 NRL finals series: Newcastle Knights 18–10 Cronulla-Sutherland, at Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW on 22 Sep 2001.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture. Cronulla's centre/wing positions rotated from earlier finals — Colin Best moved to centre and Brent Grose came into the starting wing, with Luke Stuart wearing #16 at second row (replacing the injured/rested Nathan Long) — reported exactly as sourced.
Scorers
| Newcastle Knights | Tries: Kennedy; Kennedy; Hughes Goals: Johns (3/3 conversions) |
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Tries: Peachey; Rogers Goals: Rogers (1/3 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Newcastle Knights | Cronulla-Sutherland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie O'Davis | Fullback | David Peachey (c) | 1 |
| 2 | Timana Tahu | Wing | Mat Rogers | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Paul Mellor | 3 |
| 4 | Mark Hughes | Centre | Colin Best | 4 |
| 5 | Adam MacDougall | Wing | Brent Grose | 5 |
| 6 | Sean Rudder | Five-Eighth | Adam Dykes | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns (c) | Halfback | Preston Campbell | 7 |
| 8 | Josh Perry | Prop | Jason Stevens | 8 |
| 9 | Danny Buderus | Hooker | Jason Ferris | 9 |
| 10 | Matt Parsons | Prop | Martin Lang | 10 |
| 11 | Steve Simpson | Second Row | Luke Stuart | 16 |
| 12 | Ben Kennedy | Second Row | Paul McNicholas | 12 |
| 13 | Bill Peden | Lock | Nick Graham | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Paul Marquet | Chris Beattie | 14 | |
| 15 | Clinton O'Brien | Andrew Pierce | 15 | |
| 16 | Glenn Grief | Dean Treister | 17 | |
| 17 | Daniel Abraham | Sean Ryan | 19 | |
| Michael Hagan | Coach | John Lang | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Paul Simpkins |
Match report
Newcastle trailed 6-10 at halftime before Andrew Johns steadied the ship and Ben Kennedy's double proved the difference in a tight arm-wrestle. Widely seen as the form guide for the Grand Final, Newcastle's win over one of the competition's most dangerous attacking sides booked their place in the decider and ended Cronulla's finals run at the final hurdle.