Boosted by the return of three of their five players charged with possessing and supplying cocaine – Greg Bird, Dave Taylor and Beau Falloon – the Titans looked set to post their first win of the year.
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But a Jeremy Smith try after he burst onto an Adam Clydsdale short ball and split Gold Coast straight through the middle put Newcastle back in control of a see-sawing game four minutes from full-time.
The Knights and premiers Souths are the only teams to have won all three games in 2015, although Penrith can join them if they beat the Roosters on Monday night, being played as The Star went to press.
The last time Newcastle opened the season with a hat-trick of successes was nine years ago, when names like Andrew Johns, Danny Buderus, Matt Gidley and Steve Simpson featured on their team sheet.
Knights coach Rick Stone said he was ‘‘pretty proud of our resilience and toughness’’, which has carried his team to wins against the Warriors, North Queensland and Titans, each time after trailing on the scoreboard well into the second half.
‘‘We’ve sort of drawn on a bit of history with the Knights,’’ Stone said.
‘‘We had our 1988 side back for the first game, and the club was build on that with [foundation coach] Allan McMahon.
"We’ve just tried to go back to the future a little bit, and take some of the traits out of those teams early on.’’
Knights skipper Kurt Gidley said his teammates were growing in belief with each win.
