An 18-year-old driver is charged after a car hits Knights fans at Wallsend, injuring 10

An 18-year-old P-plate driver has been charged after a car left the roundabout on Newcastle Link Road at Wallsend and hit a crowd waiting to see the Newcastle Knights off to Sydney. Ten people were hurt, three of them children. A 5-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man were still critical on Saturday night.

New South Wales police said the car entered the roundabout at the intersection of Transfield Avenue at about 9:30 a.m., lost control, and struck supporters lined along the road. Thousands had come out for a send-off. The Knights were travelling to Sydney for the NRL grand final, their first since 2001. The Newcastle Herald named the driver as Samarasinghe and said his licence had been suspended. He was expected to face a bail court on Sunday, 4 October. Police said the car had been seized.

The injury list, given by police and the Herald through the day, is more specific than the first "10 hurt" line. Besides the two critical patients, four people remained in hospital in a stable condition: a second 5-year-old girl, a 2-year-old girl, a 31-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man. Three men, aged 24, 25 and 27, and a 63-year-old woman had been discharged. ABC News, citing an earlier police update, had also put a second 5-year-old and a 2-year-old among the injured, with other patients aged from 24 to 63.

Assistant Commissioner David Waddell spoke at the scene. Early reporting described the crash as unintentional. That word does not decide the charge. A P-plate driver who loses a car at a roundabout into a crowd can face dangerous driving and related counts whether or not police allege a deliberate attack. The court on Sunday will hear the bail case, not the trial. Police had not published the full charge sheet by late Saturday.

The timing is what turned a local crash into a national picture. Grand-final send-offs in rugby league towns are slow processions, not closed parades. Families stand on the kerb. Children sit on shoulders. The Knights' last premiership appearance was 25 years ago, so the crowd at Wallsend was larger than a normal Saturday departure. A car that fails to hold the roundabout at Newcastle Link Road has nowhere to go but the people standing on the exit.

Wallsend sits on the western side of Newcastle, about 160 kilometres north of Sydney. The Link Road is the fast way out of the Hunter toward the M1. The roundabout at Transfield Avenue is a point where local traffic meets the road the team bus was using. Police have not said whether the driver was part of the procession, trying to join it, or simply passing through. That distinction will matter for any later argument about speed and attention.

Hospitals in Newcastle took the critical cases. Police did not name the facilities in the statements used by the Herald and ABC. For the two children still in a stable condition, and for the girl who is critical, the next medical updates will come from clinicians, not from the football club. The Knights had not cancelled the Sydney trip by the time the driver was charged. The grand final itself was still scheduled for later Saturday.

What is settled is the count and the custody. Ten people were hit. Three were children. Two patients were critical at the last police update. The driver is 18, on P-plates, without a licence as of Saturday night, and due before a bail magistrate on Sunday. The car is in police hands. The roundabout is at Newcastle Link Road and Transfield Avenue, Wallsend, and the time was about 9:30 a.m.