<Tr> <Th> Highest points scorer </Th> <Td> Andrew Johns - 2,176 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales . They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership . Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top tier competition in 1988, 79 years after the previous Newcastle based team, the Newcastle Rebels had departed the Sydney competition with the formation of a separate league competition based in the Newcastle region . </P> <P> The club has won two premierships over its history (1997 and 2001) and is one of only two clubs (the other being the Wests Tigers) that has never lost a grand final in which it has participated . It has also produced such players as Paul Harragon, Robbie O'Davis, Danny Buderus and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns . The team's home ground is McDonald Jones Stadium . </P> <P> A Newcastle rugby league team had been assembled from players in the Newcastle Rugby League to compete in various competitions for most of the 20th century . The Newcastle Knights entered the NSWRL competition in 1988 with Allan McMahon as coach . Newcastle had previously been invited to field a team in the NSWRL competition for the 1982 season but declined, worried it would weaken the area's local league competition . The Canberra Raiders were admitted to the 1982 competition in their place . </P>

When did newcastle knights win the grand final