THE Newcastle Knights racked up their sixth successive win on Sunday but may have paid a high price after losing influential playmaker Jackson Hastings to an ankle injury.
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Hastings was helped from the field midway through the first half of Newcastle's 42-6 triumph against Canterbury at McDonald Jones Stadium after a hip-drop tackle by Bulldogs back-rower Jacob Preston left him clutching at his right leg.
Hastings suffered a dislocated ankle and broken leg after a similar tackle playing for Wests Tigers against Brisbane last season.
Having played in every game for Newcastle this year, he watched the second half on Sunday in a protective boot on the sidelines and faces a race to prove his fitness before Newcastle's blockbuster home clash with South Sydney next weekend.
Already leading 14-0 when Hastings was injured, the Knights took that setback in their stride and never looked like losing, reclaiming seventh position on the ladder.
Newcastle last won six games in a row in 2019.
They haven't celebrated seven consecutive wins since 2001 - their last premiership-winning season.
Newcastle opened the scoring in the eighth minute when centre Dane Gagai, with little apparently happening, raced across the line after a swivel and a dummy.
Skipper Kalyn Ponga converted for a 6-0 lead. Three minutes later it was 12-0 after five-eighth Tyson Gamble speared through more flimsy defence to score the softest of tries between the posts.
As if the Bulldogs were not under enough pressure, they lost forward Harrison Edwards to the sin-bin for a professional foul in the 16th minute, allowing Ponga to add a penalty goal.
Before Edwards had returned to the field, he had been joined in purgatory by Preston after his clumsy tackle on Hastings.
Within a minute, utility Kurt Mann had dived over from dummy-half against the 11-man Bulldogs and Ponga converted for a 20-0 lead.
Six minutes later, Gamble backed up to score his second try of the game and the Knights appeared on track to emulate their club-record 66-0 hammering of the Bulldogs last month.
The 23,464-strong crowd rose to its feet just seconds before half-time when centre Enari Tuala scooped up a loose ball in his in-goal and raced 105 metres to score, making it 30-0 at half-time.
The Bulldogs kept Newcastle scoreless for the opening 20 minutes of the second half before prop Leo Thompson crashed over for the first try of his 38-game NRL career.
Seven minutes later, bench prop Jack Hetherington scored his first try since joining the Knights at the start of the season.
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