Newcastle's Harold Matthews Cup coach Alex Moore urges players to stick to it after grand final loss

Vying for their first under-17s title since 2019, the Knights were beaten 32-6 by a powerful Bulldogs outfit at Leichhardt Oval.

They started strongly and captain Connor Votano crossed for the opening try midway through the first half, and while they only trailed 8-6 at half-time, the Bulldogs ultimately scored five answered tries. Newcastle had their chances, but were blown away in wet and drizzly conditions.

"We can't use the conditions as an excuse, we played in these conditions last week and handled them really well," Moore said.

"The boys are shattered.

"They've put in a lot of hard work since pre-season and have come along way since then. They definitely deserved to be here today, but the Bulldogs deserved the win."

Despite the loss, Moore said the occasion of playing in a grand final and in front of a crowd would benefit his players.

"They've got to use this, as motivation or an experience and learn from it, in whatever you do in life moving forward," he said.

"Hopefully they can take lessons from today and instil them into their career."

Moore, in his first year at the helm, was confident there were players in his squad that could ultimately progress to the NRL.

"There's definitely guys in this side that have the ability, if they keep working hard and they want it, and they stick to having that effort and hard work to actually get to that level," he said. "It's a bit of a way off, but it's not that far off. They've just got to keep working hard and I'm sure there's a few guys that will eventually get there."

Moore said three of his players had been picked to represent City, Kyran Blair, Diesel Hagan, Ethan Jarmain, while Fletcher O'Doherty - who played for Newcastle in the Andrew Johns Cup, the regional state competition, would represent Country.

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