Chris Houston scored a try in his return from NRL exile, before Newcastle crossed again in the dying moments to draw 22-22 with the Warriors in a trial match on Saturday night.

The teams played for the `Solidarity Cup' in the New Zealand town of Greymouth, which was floored by the tragic death of 29 miners late last year.

The Warriors looked as though they'd done enough to win the warm-up match, before rookie Knights outside back Simon Williams scored in the corner.

Goal-kicker Peter Mata'utia had a chance to clinch the result for the Knights, but missed with his conversion.

All eyes were on Houston though, as he played his first match since a drug investigation forced him to quit the Knights and sit out the 2010 season.

Houston was cleared of all drug supply charges and was welcomed back to the Knights during the off-season.

The big secondrower, who has been touted as a future NSW Origin player, had a mixed night, but showed great strength to barge over the line from close range and cut the Warriors second half lead back to 10 points.

Coach Rick Stone said Houston will be better for the run and congratulated his side for their comeback from 22-6 down in the final 20 minutes.

"Chris was good. He came up with a couple of errors but overall he played about 50 minutes, he was strong, scored a try, defended pretty well and carried the ball pretty well I thought," Stone told AAP.

"We had a chance to square it up but probably 22-22 was a fair result considering what we're over here for."

Shannon McDonnell put his case forward for fullback selection this year with a solid performance, while Mata'utia also impressed his coach.

Stone also praised young frontrower Joel Edwards who was smart on his feet all night and was rewarded with a try.

Warriors utility Joel Moon was impressive and had a hand in the game's most exciting try, which broke a 0-0 deadlock on the stroke of halftime.

Moon ran off a good ball from star recruit Feleti Mateo and raced away downfield.

He found another new boy in Shaun Berrigan who then gave off for big winger Billy Tupou to crash over.

Moon looked to put the Warriors into an unbeatable position at the three-quarter mark when he broke away down the right-hand side and popped a nice offload to Glen Fisiiahi who scored his second and built a 22-6 advantage for the home side.

Mateo looked strong for the Warriors, showing great footwork and clever touch with his passing.

Winger Kevin Locke and halfback Brett Seymour also had sharp games, while coach Ivan Cleary liked what he saw from Mateo.

"He's worked pretty hard. He certainly showed a few glimpses of what he can do," he said.

"There was a bit of good, a bit of bad. We let the game slip there at the end. I think we got through without any injuries."

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