Newcastle veterans Andrew Johns and Matt Gidley defied father time to engineer a 26-12 NRL victory over Manly at Brookvale Oval.

Johns turned back the clock to emerge from a mini form slump, having a hand or foot in all four of his side's tries to break a four-game losing streak to keep the Knights in the top eight.

He also kicked four goals to bring him within three points of the all-time point-scoring record of 2,107 points held by Jason Taylor, with the chance to break it against the Taylor-coached Parramatta next week.

Gidley - in doubt right up until kick-off with wife Larissa due to give birth to their second child - made sure the visitors benefited from the pause in pregnancy, throwing the final pass for his side's first two tries.

The Knights prevailed despite conceding a mountain of possession in the first half and a few anxious moments in the final 20 minutes.

A beautiful interchange of passes down the short side resulted in the opening points to the Knights in the 11th minute, with Great Britain winger Brian Carney scoring his 12th try of the season.

Gidley was the main architect, providing Carney a saloon passage to the line with a superb inside ball.

Gidley looked to score himself midway through the half when he accepted a flick pass from Clint Newton in open space, but referee Sean Hampstead ruled the pass forward.

Manly hit back in the 27th minute through Anthony Watmough, who showed tremendous strength to brush past three defenders on his way to the tryline.

A high shot on Newcastle five-eighth Jarrod Mullen gifted the visitors a penalty goal which levelled the scores in the 36th minute, with the Taree teenager recovering sufficiently a minute later to score a try which gave his side a 12-6 halftime advantage.

Gidley, known more for his flick passes to his outside men, again threw the final pass, another sublime inside ball to the light-stepping Mullen.

Johns ensured the visitors took total control after the break, orchestrating two tries in the opening nine minutes.

He gave centre George Carmont an unimpeded run to the line with a bullet cut-out pass and then laid on a four-pointer with a pin-point cross-field kick for impressive fullback Nathan Hinton.

Manly try-scoring machine Brett Stewart scored his 27th try from as many matches at Brookvale Oval to raise hopes of a comeback after swooping on a first-tackle kick ahead from Matt Orford.

But a late penalty goal to Johns and some determined goal-line defence handed the Sea Eagles their third consecutive loss.

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