(VIDEO) Sydney Roosters Rally From 12-0 Down to Beat Newcastle 19-18 and End a Seven-Year NRL Drought

SYDNEY — The Sydney Roosters came from 12-0 down to beat Newcastle 19-18 on Sunday night at Stadium Australia, taking a 16th NRL premiership and their first men's title in seven years.

Newcastle led by two converted tries just before halftime. The Roosters scored before the break, took over the second half and held on after Greg Marzhew crossed for the Knights with three minutes left. Daly Cherry-Evans's field goal, which made it 19-12 with 10 minutes to play, was the difference.

The one-pointer was the 32nd and last of Cherry-Evans's career. It also made him the oldest premiership winner in the NRL's 104-year history. He is leaving the game with the title.

"The journey is all about the ups and downs and it's so amazing to finish here," Cherry-Evans said. "I didn't want to sound arrogant or overly confident, but I had so much belief in this club, the players, the coach. This is what it's all about. And we did it. And I'm so, so proud to be here, and I just can't wait to go see my family."

Mark Nawaqanitawase, the winger bound for rugby union, scored both of the Roosters' tries, the first before halftime and the second with 20 minutes to play. Front-rowers Spencer Leniu and Naufahu Whyte carried the middle. The Roosters did not pull away so much as stop Newcastle from adding to the early lead, then nick the game with the field goal.

Kalyn Ponga was Newcastle's best. The Knights spent long stretches defending their own line. The pressure told in the second half, but the side that had come from last in 2025 to seventh and then to the decider was still in it at the end. Marzhew's late try made it a one-point game. The siren came before another chance.

The pre-game program included a tribute to retired Rabbitohs forward Jai Arrow. The night otherwise belonged to a final that flipped after halftime.

For the Roosters, seven years without a men's title had started to look long. Trent Robinson has coached the club for 14 seasons. In that stretch the Roosters have been a regular finalist, and a drought measured in a single cycle felt, inside the club, like an absence. Sunday closed it. The 16th premiership puts them further clear on the all-time list. The manner of it — trailing by 12, level enough to need a one-pointer, then defending a one-point lead — will be the version that gets replayed.

Newcastle's run was the other story. Wooden spoon to grand final in a year is a short path in a 17-team competition. The Knights rode form and, the coverage noted, a wave of emotion into the finals from seventh. They led a grand final. They did not win it. Ponga's game and the late try are what they take out of Stadium Australia, along with the knowledge that the early score was real and not enough.

Earlier Sunday, the Roosters' women's team beat the Brisbane Broncos 30-6 at Sydney Olympic Park, completing a club double. Isabelle Kelly's side led 26-0 at halftime and did not loosen the defensive line. Brydie Parker scored a hat trick with 12 minutes left. Tarryn Aiken, the Roosters halfback, was named the Karyn Murphy medalist. Props Corban Baxter and Millie Elliott retire with the premiership, a year after the Roosters lost the NRLW decider to Brisbane.

The Broncos scored in the final six minutes, a try by the halfback with an assist from captain Tamika Upton. It is Upton's first season as captain, after Ali Brigginshaw, who led the club for eight years and is retiring. In her post-match remarks, Upton congratulated the Roosters and offered condolences to the victims of a car crash in Newcastle on Saturday.

The men's result is the one that resets the NRL table. Cherry-Evans leaves as the oldest premiership winner in more than a century, with a field goal that decided a final. Nawaqanitawase leaves for union with two tries in the decider. Robinson has the title that the last seven seasons did not. Newcastle has a losing grand final after a season that began at the bottom. The score was 19-18. The margin was the last one-pointer of a career.