The NYC Newcastle Knights drew on a sense of Club passion and pride to achieve a quality victory over the Gold Coast Titans in the Club’s Heritage Round at Hunter Stadium.
Knights TV spoke to coach Troy Pezet and high-flyer Fuaimamao ‘Mao’ Uta in the sheds after the 38-10 win.
Pezet was thrilled with the young side’s uncompromising effort and said the win topped off a stellar week of preparation.
“I’m just really excited for them,” he said.
“We hung tough right until the end, where in other times we probably would let in a couple of soft tries.
“We had a lot of fresh faces but they all worked really hard."
Uta stole the show crossing the line five times on the right wing.
The astounding effort places him among a select group of only five players who have achieved the same feat since the start of the U20s competition.
“He’s just been wonderful. He just tries so hard,” Pezet said.
“Him with Bryce (Donovan) and Kenny (Tofilau), our back three, they probably laid the platform for every set we had.
“Mao has just resigned to stay with us for another year, he’s a great kid and has got what he deserved.”
Uta was humble in his success and credited the try haul to the hard work of his teammates.
“It’s a team effort, the boys in the middle were bashing it up and put their body on the line to shift it out wide,” Uta said.
"We have been practicing it the whole week.
“It was a good win today.”
A number of new combinations came into the play including that between Uta and Jacob Gagai who played his first game in the Knights NYC since rejoining the Club at the start of the week.
“We asked him (Gagai) to help us out this week and he did a wonderful job,” Pezet said.
“He threw the last pass for three of Mao’s tries so that’s really good for Jacob.”
While Uta added, “He’s familiar with the Club and has been doing pretty good.
“The new combination with him was pretty good and especially in our halves, we had Jack Kelly come in starting."
With NYC mainstays Luke Yates, Jack Cogger and Braden Robson ruled out, an influx of young players got their shot at in the Round 19 clash at Hunter Stadium.
SG Ball graduate Tom Starling made his debut and played alongside fellow Knights juniors Jayden Butterfield and Sam Stone.
“Some young blokes like Tommy (Starling) and (Sam) Stoney are coming through and they are pretty good and pulled their weight,” Uta said.
“It was a good feeling, and an awesome win.”
The dominant win carried deeper meaning as the Club celebrated the NRL’s Heritage Round.
“Danny Buderus had a chat to the boys a little bit about what the Club was built on and the three ‘T’s’ - about being able to tackle, be tough and about tomorrows,” Pezet explained.
“He said that the guys all have plenty of tomorrow’s and how excited he is about this group of kids.
“He’s really passionate just about not giving up and staying in the fight and what the club and the town expects.
“There’s was no prouder person than Danny Buderus in the coaching box today. He was really happy.”
The pre-game pep talk from the Club legend held greater significance for the players and motivated the young Knights to their impressive win.
“Everyone felt the vibe and wanted do go out and do their job,” Uta said.
“Danny has been around the Club for a while and knows what he’s talking about.”
