Newcastle Knights vs Melbourne Storm highlights: NRL live scores, blog

Roar Guru

17th July, 2016

3669 Reads

Kickoff: 2pm (AEST)
Venue: Hunter Stadium
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Last meeting: Melbourne 18-14 Newcastle
Referee: Henry Perenara
Head-to-head: Melbourne 20, Newcastle 15
Betting: Newcastle $7.50, Melbourne $1.10
Last five rounds: Newcastle LByeLLBye, Melbourne WLWWBye

Knights
1 Dane Gagai 2 Nathan Ross 3 Brendan Elliot 4 Peter Mata'utia-Leifi 5 Jake Mamo 6 Jarrod Mullen 7 Trent Hodkinson 8 Robert Rochow 9 Danny Levi 10 Korbin Sims 11 Sione Mata'utia 12 Mitchell Barnett 13 Jeremy Smith Interchange: 14 Joshua King 15 Sam Mataora 16 Daniel Saifiti 17 Mickey Paea 18 Pat Mata'utia 23 Pauli Pauli

Storm
1 Young Tonumaipea 2 Suliasi Vunivalu 3 Cheyse Blair 4 Ryan Morgan 5 Marika Koroibete 6 Blake Green 7 Cooper Cronk 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Cameron Smith 10 Felise Kaufusi 11 Kevin Proctor 12 Tohu Harris 13 Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14 Kenneth Bromwich 15 Christian Welch 16 Matthew White 17 Benjamin Hampton

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The Knights host the Bulldogs, looking to break their epic losing streak. (Photo: Joe Frost)

John Coomer

Roar Guru

17th July, 2016

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3669 Reads

The second-placed Melbourne Storm travel to Hunter Stadium to face the last-placed Newcastle Knights in Round 19. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 2pm (AEST).

Both teams are coming off byes, but the Storm will have Cameron Smith and Cooper Crock backing up from State of Origin 3 on Wednesday night, along with Dane Gagai for the Knights.

Melbourne are red-hot favourites against a rebuilding Knights team that has just one win and a draw to show for their efforts this season. The Storm didn’t have it all their own way the last time the two teams met in Round 5 this season however, scraping home 18-14 in Melbourne.

Since then the Knights have struggled, though they did perform well in a heartbreaking golden point loss to Canberra in their last match.

This week sees the return of five-eighth Jarrod Mullen, replacing 18-year-old Jack Cogger, after an extended stint on the sidelines. Coach Nathan Brown has also named Pat Mata’utia and Pauli Pauli on an extended bench.

Fullback Cameron Munster is still out for the Storm and journeyman prop Matt White will make his debut for the club in place of the injured Jordan McLean. Try-scoring machine Suliasi Vunivalu will be looking to add to his tally of 16, the most in the NRL this season – what a find the young Fijian winger has been for Melbourne!

The Storm have the best defensive record in the NRL in 2016, averaging just 11 points per game, while Newcastle have the worst, conceding 34. The Knights also have the worst attack in the NRL this season, though the return of Mullen should help.

Prediction
Newcastle will build on their last start Canberra performance and be competitive, but the Storm will be too strong.

Join The Roar at 2pm (AEST) for score updates and debate in our live blog.

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