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Less than an hours away from a blockbuster opening round one match to kick-off the 2012 NRL Premiership season, Wayne Bennett takes on his former Dragons outfit and opens his coaching account for his new club at Hunter Stadium.
The seven time premiership winning coach faces his former club in an opening match that promises to produce some intriguing 80 minutes of football to get the 2012 NRL season underway.
Through the Knights getting arguably the best coach to ever establish his dominance through premiership success in the National Rugby League, the Novocastrians also managed to recruit Queensland origin star and former St. George Illawarra fullback Darius Boyd.
Boyd followed Wayne to the Knights for the 2012 NRL season on a four year deal.
Through the attacking acquisition of Darius Boyd and master coach Wayne Bennett the Knights are in prime position to have a very strong 2012 NRL Premiership campaign, with the Newcastle squad also gaining Danny Buderus who returns to the Knights line-up after a 3 year stint in England for the Leeds Rhinos.
The Newcastle 2011 NRL premiership season was a finals bound year for the Knights when they finished the 26 rounds of competition in eighth place and made it through to the second week of the finals when their season ended as they bowed out to the Melbourne Storm.
Even though the Knights failed to get past the second week of the finals series they still had strong performances throughout the season notably Fijian born winger Akuila Uate who ended the 2011 season the NRL’s leading try-scorer.
Through the off-season pick-ups and strong players in Bennett’s roster the Newcastle fans and members have every reason to believe it’s going to be a year to remember and savour in 2012.
After the master coaches departure (Bennett) and Queensland’s attacking fullback/winger leaving St.George (Boyd) the Dragons have a substantial portion of class gone and prominent experience lost in the coaching department and player roster.
Steve Price steps in to the coaching position for the 2010 premiers to fill the void left by his successor. (Bennett)
Price was the assistant coach in the 2010 premiership winning campaign and will face a stern test against the former Broncos and Dragons coach in the opening round 1 encounter tonight.
The Dragons have an exceptional halves pairing and still have a strong and classy roster, so Price will be looking to have a strong and successful year in the Dragons 2012 premiership aspirations, in his opening year as head coach of the senior side.
Kyle Stanley will take Boyd’s position at fullback for the gripping round one NRL opener tonight, which kicks off at the Knights home ground in the formerly named Ausgrid Stadium.
The Newcastle Knights and the St.George Illawarra Dragons will be looking to start their respective 2012 NRL premiership campaigns with a win, and go into the second round with winning form.
Both squads are still very strong even with the off-season departures of Boyd, Gasnier and the master coach Wayne Bennett for the Dragons, but both could test any opposition sides during this year’s premiership and it won’t be a easy first round encounter on a slightly different Thursday night match.
The first round of the NRL 2012 Telstra premiership continues with the Brisbane Broncos taking on the Parramatta Eels tomorrow night, as the post Lockyer era starts with an enormous responsibility for Corey Norman as he has some world class shoes to fill.
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