NRL 2025 grades: Hapless Knights end with spoon

Halves issues, a lacklustre coach, and millions stuck on the bench saw the hapless Newcastle Knights capitulate to the club’s fifth wooden spoon right on the last day of the 2025 NRL season with a humiliating 56-point drubbing.

There won’t be a Newcastle fan happy about the season that’s just been, bar maybe the fact that it finally saw Adam O’Brien unseated from the Knights job several years after he should have been shown the door. Beyond that, there’s little to say for any wooden spoon season, and this one will have a particular sting after actually starting okay.

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Injuries didn’t help things, with our standout pick Fletcher Sharpe sidelined alongside million-dollar man Kalyn Ponga, strike star Bradman Best, and the club’s best forward in Dylan Lucas for much of the season, but that’s little excuse.

Instead, the blame can be pointed to O’Brien’s poor coaching, odd roster construction, and the halves.

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That last point is likely the biggest; from round one to their 66–10 thrashing at the hands of the once-spoon-rivals Parramatta Eels, the Knights never really found who could play six and seven.

Some of that may be solved by Dylan Brown coming in next year, but considering he’s never been the game manager and vocal leader Newcastle has been missing since the Mitchell Pearce days (as good and bad as they were), there’s not a whole lot to look forward to. You can only feel sorry for a fanbase that is going to be feeling as downtrodden as ever.

Finish: 17th (wooden spoon)

Points: 18

Wins: 6

Losses: 18

For/Against: 338/638

Stand-out performer: Fletcher Sharpe

Newcastle Knights 2025 Grade: F