They weren't pretty, but once again the Sydney Roosters were highly effective.

The premiers chalked up their 11th straight National Rugby League win with a 14-10 victory over Newcastle in an old-fashioned arm wrestle at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

It was a game punctuated by errors, the odd flashpoint and plenty of grit and determination.

Roosters coach Ricky Stuart claimed afterwards his side had had a bad night.

Some bad night.

They're undefeated in the premiership since August and tonight claimed the scalp of one of the premiership heavyweights, albeit a Knights side missing Test lock Ben Kennedy and carrying winger Timana Tahu, who struggled with an ankle injury and was cruelly exposed by Brad Fittler.

"Obviously coming up here and winning against Newcastle and probably playing so poorly was an even more reason to be happy," Stuart said.

"I thought we made some very, very silly errors, took some wrong options, our execution around the ruck was probably the poorest it has been for a long long time, yet to come up here and do what those players did, I'm so proud of them.

"(But) the way they hung in there in this environment, it was a magic win."

Tahu was on the end of Fittler's kicking game and his mistake with 16 minutes remaining proved to be the turning point of the match.

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