It was the talking point of Newcastle's NRL clash with Manly at EnergyAustralia on Monday night - veteran centre Adam MacDougall spitting the dummy after young winger Akuila Uate "stole" a try from the veteran in the first half of the 32-14 victory.

MacDougall may have tried to deny he was filthy at Uate during the week but the Fijian flier was clearly out to make amends during Sunday's 30-6 victory over Canterbury.

Midway through the second half and leading 24-0, Uate had an open tryline looming after a break by opposite winger Cooper Vuna, but instead the 22-year-old looked up and handed the ball to man known as `Mad Dog'.

The generosity caught MacDougall off-guard as the former NSW and Test star first ran into his Fijian teammate before crashing over for his 81st try as a Knight, one short of Timana Tahu's all-time record for the club.

Knights coach Rick Stone, who perhaps wouldn't have been happy had the incident cost his team a four-pointer, could afford to crack a smile when asked about Uate's obvious attempts to repair his friendship with MacDougall.

"I suppose that tells you a little bit about Aku's nature to be honest," Stone said.

"He's a generous kid, very respectful and probably could have scored a try himself but he's happy to say 'there's one Doogie that you probably didn't get last week'.

"He's a really nice character Aku and it's really refreshing to have him around and you saw a little bit of that when he handed off that try to Doogie." Uate's kindness came in spite of him chasing another of Tahu's records at the Knights, his current season tally of 20 just one shy of the dual international's haul in 2002.

But after watching his team restrict the Dogs to just one try during Sunday's encounter, Stone was putting the emphasis on his top tryscorer's defensive awareness.

"That's probably the biggest area he has improved in," he said.

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