Star man Paul Ifill was injured early on but the Phoenix scored three first-half goals through Tim Brown, Marco Rojas and Chris Greenacre before Dylan Macallister rounded out a comprehensive win.

"It was important that we won, that was the crucial thing tonight," Herbert said.

"When you've got (Mark) Paston out, (Tony) Lochhead out, (Nick) Ward out, (Andrew) Durante suspended and Paul (Ifill) only lasted five minutes, I think it's testament to the players that came in and did a great job.

"It's the best we've played all year I would say."

Newcastle coach Branko Culina said the defeat to his depleted side - who had previously been undefeated in their past seven matches - was a hiccup.

"Obviously we weren't good enough but we've had a good run," he said. "Tonight was a bit of a hiccup but we'll bounce back.

"We missed a lot of players and don't forget we played a very hard game on Wednesday.

"We've travelled 11 hours to get here on a Saturday, the scheduling is just ... but you can't blame that alone. But we're a good team we'll bounce back."

Newcastle's next match is away to fellow finals contenders Melbourne Victory on Monday week, while the Nix are at North Queensland on the same day.