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By Robert Dillon, Newcastle Herald - Newcastle 1997 grand final hero Darren Albert shed blood for his home town in a one-off comeback against the Knights under 20s at Scone Park on Saturday night.

Albert, whose NRL career ended in early 2007 when he surprisingly retired after his first season with Cronulla, was enticed back to his former stamping ground to make a guest appearance in a Scone invitational team.

The 32-year-old spent most of his NRL career on the right wing, but he played fullback on Saturday night and made a number of try-saving tackles in Scone's 42-4 loss.

But his impressive display ended on an unfortunate note when he suffered a heavy knock and was helped from the field with blood pouring from his mouth.

"I think he put a tooth through his lip," Knights coach Brian Smith said yesterday. "But up until then, he did all right. He played quite well.

"He was busy, he got involved, and I know it meant a hell of a lot for everyone out there for him to be involved."

Smith said there were plenty of encouraging signs to emerge from Newcastle's opening hit-out of the 2009 pre-season.

"We got through without any serious injuries and, generally speaking, it was good to see the guys putting into practice some of the things we've been working on at training," Smith said.

The Knights' next trial match will be against Newcastle Rugby League teams South and Central at St John Oval on Saturday week, and Smith said he planned to choose his best available squad.

Newcastle's other warm-up matches are against Melbourne at Olympic Park (February 21) and Cronulla at Cessnock (February 28).

Against Scone on Saturday, Newcastle's line-up was bolstered by the inclusion of fringe first-graders Keith Lulia, George Ndaira, Joel Edwards, Sione Tovo and Constantine Mika, who are all members of the full-time senior squad.

"Keith scored a nice try and did some nice things," Smith said. "George probably played about 35 minutes, kicked some goals and generally his dummy-half work was pretty nice.

"Joel Edwards and Sione Tovo both started up in the front row and both put some good shots on and had some really good carries. Con Mika had some really outstanding moments. He set up a try, made a couple of breaks and was generally quite effective. Some of the under-20 kids did really well, too."

Smith said the Knights were happy to contribute on a big night for the Scone Thoroughbreds, who christened new floodlights and renamed their grandstand after league legend Don "Bandy" Adams.