Newcastle Knights 40–6 Sydney Roosters — Qualifying Final, 2001 NRL Finals Series
8 Sep 2001 · Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW · Attendance: 22,061
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Qualifying Final, 2001 NRL finals series: Newcastle Knights 40–6 Sydney Roosters, at Marathon Stadium, Newcastle, NSW on 8 Sep 2001.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture.
Scorers
| Newcastle Knights | Tries: Gidley; Gidley; Johns; Kennedy; MacDougall; Tahu Goals: Johns (7/8 conversions); Grief (1/1 conversions) |
| Sydney Roosters | Tries: Minichiello Goals: Fitzgibbon (1/2 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Newcastle Knights | Sydney Roosters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie O'Davis | Fullback | Luke Phillips | 1 |
| 2 | Timana Tahu | Wing | Chris Flannery | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Shannon Hegarty | 3 |
| 4 | Mark Hughes | Centre | Matt Sing | 4 |
| 5 | Adam MacDougall | Wing | Anthony Minichiello | 5 |
| 6 | Sean Rudder | Five-Eighth | Brad Fittler (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns (c) | Halfback | Craig Wing | 7 |
| 8 | Josh Perry | Prop | Adrian Morley | 8 |
| 9 | Danny Buderus | Hooker | Simon Bonetti | 9 |
| 10 | Matt Parsons | Prop | Andrew Lomu | 10 |
| 11 | Steve Simpson | Second Row | Bryan Fletcher | 11 |
| 12 | Ben Kennedy | Second Row | Craig Fitzgibbon | 12 |
| 13 | Bill Peden | Lock | Luke Ricketson | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Paul Marquet | Peter Cusack | 14 | |
| 15 | Clinton O'Brien | Dean Widders | 15 | |
| 16 | Glenn Grief | Michael Crocker | 16 | |
| 18 | Darren Albert | Paul Green | 17 | |
| Michael Hagan | Coach | Graham Murray | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Bill Harrigan |
Match report
Andrew Johns delivered one of his finest finals performances, a try and 7 conversions in a dominant 34-point demolition of the Roosters. The result confirmed Newcastle as genuine premiership contenders and, with their seeding, sent them straight through to the Preliminary Final without needing to survive a Week 2 Semi-Final.