St George Illawarra won a war of attrition 13-0 on a wet and windy Saturday night at Hunter Stadium to end Newcastle's unbeaten start to the NRL season and claim the inaugural Alex McKinnon Cup.
In front of a crowd of 14,261, the Dragons extended their winning run to three games with a sterling effort in defence and tries to Eto Nabuli (16th minute) and Josh Dugan (63rd) in the round-five match.
Gareth Widdop converted the Dugan try and kicked a 37th-minute penalty goal, while Benji Marshall hit a field goal in the 71st.
The Alex McKinnon Cup was created to acknowledge the Aberdeen junior who played for both clubs before his spinal injury last year.
In a tough night for Newcastle, Test back-rower Beau Scott limped off with an ankle injury in the 56th minute and Tariq Sims was put on report for a high shot just 14 minutes into his debut for the club.
Dugan left the field in the 77th minute with concussion.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor praised his team's defence in the trying conditions on Saturday night and in the previous two wins against Canberra and Manly.
"It's a really good thing for a club when you've got your attitude right in D," McGregor said.
"The boys today - to not let Newcastle score in that second half with that breeze, defending our line for so long - it's a great pleasure to watch that sort of footy.
"We turned over the ball a bit and gave them some field position but we just kept turning up for each other," McGregor said.
Knights coach Rick Stone said the Dragons played to the conditions better and his side paid the price for poor attacking options, especially with the breeze in the first half.
"I thought the first half we had enough chances to score some points," Stone said.
"We probably tried to play a little bit too much around them in the conditions and they handled that pretty well.
"We didn't play direct enough or sort out our last plays as well as we could have.
"But full credit to Saints. They turned up - they played hard for 80 minutes. They really worked hard for each other," Stone said.
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