A Daly Cherry-Evans field goal proves the difference as the Sydney Roosters beat the Newcastle Knights 19-18 in the NRL grand final.
The Roosters dictated for most of the night, but Newcastle led 12-0 on the back of two first-half tries against the run of play, including a spectacular 95-metre effort by Kalyn Ponga.
Mark Nawaqanitawase, whose bat-back led directly to Ponga’s try, got the Roosters on the board just before half-time and Billy Smith muscled his way over shortly after the break.
Desperate scrambling defence kept the Knights level until Nawaqanitawase scored his second after a lucky ricochet off the upright, and Cherry-Evans slotted a one-pointer with 10 minutes left.
Knights winger Greg Marzhew scored in the 77th minute to set up a grandstand finish, but they could not get into range to try to level the game.
Earlier, the Roosters won their third NRLW premiership, scoring seven tries to thrash the Brisbane Broncos 30-6 in a blowout and exact revenge in a rematch of the 2025 decider.
Follow all the action with our live blog:
