Depleted Knights embarrassed by Broncos

v BYE

A depleted Newcastle Knights side has been thoroughly defeated by the Brisbane Broncos 53-0, in front of 30,394 at Suncorp Stadium tonight.

The Knights started strongly, and were the better side in the opening exchanges, however it was with false hope that they greeted their fans. Some friendly fire from Jack Stockwell in the 8th minute saw Jarrod Mullen stay down with a head injury, and his injury started the slide for the Knights.

The Broncos opened their account only a minute later, taking advantage of a one man over lap out wide for Corey Oates to score in the corner. Corey Parker, who had a mixed night with the boot, failed to convert, but in the end it made little difference.

The Knights were penalised in the 15th minute, allowing Parker to kick a penalty goal, but from that point forward it was all Broncos.

Even more specifically, it was all Anthony Milford.

Milford picked up his first try in the 20th minute, using his speed and footwork to make a brilliant break around the ruck. Corey Oates picked up second minutes later, after yet another piece of magic from Milford, who stepped, dummied and jinked past the defence, before sending Oates over untouched.

Milford got his double in the 31st minute, thanks to a clever kick from Ben Hunt, and the Corey Parker conversion took the score to 22-0, where it remained until half time.

The second half started much the same was as the first ended, with Corey Oates getting his triple in the 47th minute. The ball looked to be rolling dead, but Jack Reed tapped it back, and Oates had the simple job of falling onto the ball.

Game ending injuries to Mullen, Nathan Ross and Tyler Randell forced a major reshuffle of the Knights' backline, with Jacob Saifiti and Tariq Sims the new centre pairing. If it wasn't already clear, this heralded trouble for the Knights.

Jordan Kahu got in on the scoring in the 54th minute, with the match up between James Roberts and Tariq Sims simply an unfair one. Taking over the kicking duties, Kahu added the extras.

Jo Ofanhengaue grabbed a four pointer in the 70th minute, before Kahu scored his second in the 75th minute, the Knights' left edge defence again not up to the task.

Milford's third try of the night came in the 78th minute, with the Knights begging for the final siren. But the final nail in the coffin came in the 80th minute, when field position from a penalty against the Knights turned into a field goal, with Milford cheekily snapping it in the dying seconds.

The final score, Broncos 53 - Knights 0, a valid representation of the completion rate and number of errors from each side.

The Knights will attempt to regroup to take on the Sea Eagles at home Monday week, while the Broncos will host the Rabbitohs on Friday night.