Well, Knights were clearly the better team and deserved that. The missing players for both sides maybe make this not an absolute litmus test, but the Knights certainly played very well. Kept their composure quite well, considering the circumstances.
I was very impressed with Watson. I thought Lino stepped up, and Pearce was outstanding again.
For the Rabbitohs, Cook was very good.
So all the people meant to be controlling the game (except the referees....) did.
The Rabbitohs looked quite lost for much of the game. I guess that is inevitable with your halves missing. Without wishing to take away from how good Newcastle are going, this does show that any team is just an incident or two of poor luck from being brought back to the pack.