The 20-year-old bounced off two tackles, spread the ball wide to Ricky Leutele who fed Sosaia Feki and the winger found Bird in support. He then raced his way to the line.
Lewis added a second on the half-hour mark after Bird's flick pass released Gerard Beale and Valentine Holmes' precise chip kick bounced favourably for the NSW back-rower to score.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan waited until the stroke of halftime to introduce Ben Barba from the bench in place of Michael Gordon with fullback Holmes switching to the wing.
That decision was vindicated when the former Canterbury and Brisbane star scored one of the easiest tries of his career from close range after the break with the Knights' defence failing to react to Jeff Robson's high kick.
The Knights finally crossed for a four-pointer 11 minutes from time when Akuila Uate became the first Newcastle player to score a century of tries.
However, from the resulting kick-off, former Sharks prop Kade Snowden allowed the wet ball to slip through his fingers and, after successive line drop-outs, veteran forward Chris Heighington powered over to score.
Barba's impressive cameo ended on a sour note when he limped off four minutes from the final siren after injuring his left ankle following a crunching tackle from Chris Houston.
- AAP
