Newcastle suffered their fifth consecutive defeat as the Roosters regained form and confidence with a 24-6 win at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.
The Knights competed hard, and once again threatened to stage a second-half revival, but the result leaves the two-time wooden spooners on the bottom of the ladder, while the Roosters climbed to third after five wins from seven games.
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Roosters rebound from back-to-back loses
The Sydney Roosters have rebounded from back-to-back loses with a 24-6 win over the Newcastle Knights.
Desperate to bounce back from consecutive losses to Manly and Brisbane, the Roosters led 12-0 after a torrid first half.
But the visitors certainly did not have it all their own way.
The Knights appealed for a try in the ninth minute when lock Mitch Barnett scrambled to ground a Brock Lamb grubber kick, only to be denied when the video referee detected a knock-on.
That setback followed three no-try rulings in Newcastle's 22-12 loss to Canterbury a week earlier.
The Roosters eventually opened the scoring in the 18th minute when offloads from prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and hooker Paul Carter allowed them to keep the ball alive. It passed through several sets of hands before right-side centre Joseph Manu stepped into space and dived over for the first try of his NRL career.
Eight minutes before half-time, Roosters fullback Michael Gordon burst onto a short ball from half Mitch Pearce to score next to the posts.
Gordon converted both tries.
Already without senior forward Jamie Buhrer, who fractured a bone in his foot at training on Thursday, Newcastle's cause was not helped by the loss of hooker Danny Levi (head knock) and prop Josh Starling (back) before half-time.
But as they have done so often this season, Newcastle hit back after the break.
They reduced the deficit to 12-6 in the 44th minute when in-form centre Dane Gagai flicked a pass for winger Ken Sio to score in the corner, and then skipper Trent Hodkinson landed a superb conversion from the sideline.
Newcastle came within inches of a second try in the 55th minute when centre Peter Mata'utia popped a pass and winger Nathan Ross was stopped just short of the line.
A minute later, Gagai got just as close with a dummy-half dart.
But the Roosters weathered the storm and gave themselves some breathing space in the 63rd minute when five-eighth Luke Keary dummied and speared through for his third try since joining the Roosters this season.
Gordon steered the conversion through the posts to give his team a 12-point buffer.
A Pearce try through the centre of the ruck in the 73rd minute killed off any chance of a Newcastle comeback.
Originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald as Sydney Roosters overcome Newcastle Knights fightback to regain their attacking mojo.