- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The New Zealand Warriors have claimed a big win over the struggling Newcastle Knights, beating them 50-14 on Saturday afternoon.
REPORT: WARRIORS HAND KNIGHTS A THRASHING
Final score
Newcastle Knights 14
New Zealand Warriors 50
WHAT’S NEXT? FOLLOW OUR EELS VS TITANS LIVE BLOG
In a game that is hard to read, the hapless, bottom-of-the-table Newcastle Knights take on the inconsistent and underperforming New Zealand Warriors at Hunter Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 3pm (AEST).
The Knights have been consistently awful in 2016, sitting stone cold bottom of the table with just one victory and a draw from their first 13 matches.
Fair enough, they have a young squad and have been overcome with injuries, but one win in 13 weeks of football and more blowouts than any Newcastle fan will care to remember has them on track for a record-breakingly bad season. A 46-16 loss at the hands of the North Queensland Cowboys last week continued their run.
The question now is, will they win another game this season?
This week is an opportunity for the young and enthusiastic Newcastle forward pack, but it comes down to how the Warriors play. One week they look like world beaters and everyone races to install them as dark horses for the title, the next they are absolutely woeful as everyone drops them away to the bottom four.
With State of Origin gripping the competition, it is usually the time the Warriors thrive, and they didn’t disappoint last weekend, with their best performance of the season – a big win over the fatigued Brisbane Broncos.
The Auckland-based club sit in 12th place – it’s not that far from the top eight but a win here is vital.
There are no changes this match for the Warriors, while the Knights welcome both Korbin Sims and Jacob Saifiti back to the bench, with Josh King and Lachlan Fitzgibbon named as 18th and 19th man respectively.
The Kiwi team need to come our firing, the same way they did Brisbane last week, and play the game in front of them rather than with structure.
Newcastle, on the other hand, need to slow the Warriors down, keep the game in the middle third, and slowly frustrate their opponents out of the fight. This comes down to Daniel Saifiti and Jeremy Smith – easily their best performing forwards.
Prediction
Based on the way the Warriors played last week they will get the job done, but don’t be surprised if there is a serious scare here.
Warriors by 2.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this match from 3pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde