THREE masked teenagers armed with baseball bats and a baton got more than they bargained for on Saturday night when they stormed the wrong car in the dead of night at Kotara.
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A foundation Newcastle Knights player and two former local football representative players took up the challenge when they saw the trio, wearing hockey masks, running towards their car waving weapons a few minutes before midnight.
The former Knights player, who asked not to be identified, said the three football mates were on their way home, with one of their wives driving, when they stopped at a red light on the corner of Northcott Dr and Park Ave.
They looked over to see three people wearing hockey masks, two armed with baseball bats and another armed with a baton, standing on the side of the road gesturing towards them.
"They were tapping their weapons in their hands and carrying on trying to intimidate us. When the lights turned green they just started running straight towards the car, it was a very bizarre scene to come across," he said.
"We told the female driver to stop and the three of us jumped out and ran straight at them.
"It was a bit like a game of red rover crossover with two groups running towards each other, but we weren't armed, and we tackled two of them to the ground. The other one got away."
Within minutes the police arrived and arrested the the two males.
The former Knights player said he was glad it was "three footy heads" who came across the masked trio and not a lone female driver who would have been "terrified at the sight of them".
He said the bandits looked "extremely menacing" and were deliberately trying to intimidate people.
"We took their masks off and held them down on the ground, they became quite passive or you could say they turned to water, once we took control of the situation," he said.
"If a young girl or an elderly lady had been driving by it would have been a nightmare for them.
"They charged at the car and looked like they really meant business."
The former Knights player said the police who arrived at the scene said they had been looking for the trio for several hours after numerous harassment and property damage reports.
He said the two they detained looked like they were about 18 years old.
"Maybe they thought it was funny, but it could have been extremely serious," he said. "I'm not sure who thinks it's alright to run around in the dark menacing people for no reason like that. It's just not on."
A NSW Police spokeswoman said investigations were continuing.