Canterbury have been condemned to the bottom of the NRL ladder after they suffered a 16-6 defeat at the hands of Newcastle.
In front of 30,220 people at the opening game of Magic Round at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, the Knights did just enough on Friday night to snap a seven-game losing streak and move off the foot of the table.
Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett is likely to feel the heat with Canterbury only registering two wins from their opening 10 games this season after a highly-expensive rebuild of the club's roster.
It is the second week in a row that Barrett's side have only scored one try and, despite a mountain of possession, they never really troubled the Knights.
Newcastle got first points when Kalyn Ponga nudged over a penalty from right in front after Paul Vaughan was penalised for a lifting tackle.
Canterbury were their own worst enemies for most of the game, relieving pressure by conceding avoidable penalties and piggybacking the Knights upfield.
Newcastle capitalised with Edrick Lee crashing over for his first try at elite level since his match-winning heroics for the Maroons in the 2020 Origin series in the 14th minute.
The Bulldogs continued to keep the heat on Newcastle with Ponga struggling with Matt Burton's spiralling high bombs.
Ponga misjudged one and ended up being trapped in goal, and after he dropped another the Dogs got on the board.
This time Burton turned to his grubber and Josh Addo-Carr was on hand to dot down for his sixth try in his third Magic Round appearance.
Burton added a penalty to square the ledger before halftime but Canterbury's parity didn't last long.
After Daniel Saifiti had a try disallowed for obstruction the pressure tolled on Canterbury's defence with Ponga sending Bradman Best over in the corner after he found a three-man overlap on Jayden Okunbor's wing.
Newcastle should have put the game to bed but both Leo Thompson and Pasami Saulo knocked on with the tryline begging.
Adam Clune put the game beyond the Bulldogs in the last five minutes, stepping his way through some meek Canterbury defending.
