NEW halves Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble showed encouraging signs in their first starts for Newcastle but the Knights were outclassed by Cronulla 28-16 in a trial at Gosford on Friday night.
Newcastle trailed 16-4 at half-time at Industree Group Stadium but the scoreline could have been much closer as they nearly scored on another two or three occasions.
They were the far better side in the opening 20 minutes when most of their big-name players were on the field but came under the pump before the break and conceded two tries.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien said before the match he would pay little attention to the result and he will hardly be panicking about the final scoreline given a host of youngsters got plenty of game time.
But he would have been encouraged by some of the early work of his spine players.
Hastings appeared comfortable steering the ship at halfback and had a hand in his side's first try.
Gamble displayed plenty of energy and benefited from Hastings' ball-playing to score Newcastle's opener.
Bailey Hodgson also looked dangerous in attack but was a little wobbly making a couple of errors at the back.
It was a knock-on from the 20-year-old fullback that led to the opening try with Cronulla scooping up the loose ball and spreading it left for winger Thomas Rodwell to score after just three minutes.
Newcastle hit back four minutes later through five-eighth Gamble, who took an offload from back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon a few metres out from the line to make it 6-4.
Fitzgibbon had almost burst through himself off a neatly timed pass from Hastings.
Hodgson put on a sharp left-foot step to put Dylan Lucas through for what should have been Newcastle's second try shortly after, but the Bunker deemed there had been an earlier obstruction.
After forcing a third goal-line dropout in the first half, Cronulla extended their lead in the 32nd minute when halfback Niwhai Puru put centre Marwene Hiroti through a hole from close range.
Less than a minute before half-time, Sharks forward Thomas Hazelton crashed over inside the right upright to help his side take a 16-4 lead into the sheds.
Six minutes after the break, Cronulla fullback Daniel Atkinson chased down his own grubber to push the lead out to 22-4 following a successful conversion.
The game slowed and went end to end for much of the second half until Phoenix Crossland crossed for Newcastle with seven minutes left to play.
Luke Pietzner did well to run onto a kick from Adam Clune and score a late consolation try in the 79th minute.
Joshua Finau scored off an entertaining bit of play in the final seconds to help Cronulla claim a 28-16 win.
The Knights take on the Eels in their second and final trial game at the same venue next Friday.
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