The Newcastle Knights made a strong effort but could not defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon, slumping to a 14th straight loss.
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Final score
Knights 14
Bulldogs 28
The Newcastle Knights face a tough home assignment this Saturday against the finals bound Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Join us on The Roar from 3pm AEST for live NRL coverage.
The Knights have lifted themselves from being putrid to being ok over the last month. They’ll be disappointed they didn’t get over the Raiders and ran the Storm close in a great game at this venue three weeks ago.
Nathan Brown has been given patience and support from the club and its fans to rebuild from the foundations up, looking for incremental improvement. There are some small slivers of hope for the fans showing too, with the development of younger players like the Saifiti brothers Jacob and Daniel, alongside Jack Cogger and fullback Jake Mamo.
Now for a taste of the present.
Newcastle has lost 13 games in a row. Their points differential of -401 is roughly equal to the combined differential of every team from positions 8-12 on the ladder. Their points scored total is less than the Melbourne Storm’s points differential. Their average losing margin is 21 points.
And this week, they face a Canterbury team that needs to keep banking wins if they want a top four ladder finish.
The Bulldogs tend to just get the job done in games like this – no mess, no fuss executions that don’t run up the score or particularly make them look like world beaters. The Bulldogs have some seriously important games coming up in the run home, most importantly against Brisbane and the Cowboys.
Des Hasler will be expecting his men to take care of business in Newcastle and moving on with a minimum of disruption. He’ll also be expecting some better discipline from Josh Reynolds, who put his spot in the team at risk with his tripping exploits last week.
At team selection, some seasoned players come in for the Knights in the shapes of Jarrod Mullen, Pat Mata’utia and forward Sam Mataora. Josh King and Jack Cogger are out. I’ve liked the look of Cogger. He’s a very green 18-year-old halfback and Nathan Brown is very carefully dipping him into the world of first grade.
For Canterbury, the side named on Tuesday saw the significant kilos of Greg Eastwood swapped out for the significant kilos of Tony Williams. Eastwood has a hamstring concern and this gives Williams the chance to prove he has a future at NRL level after a fairly long stretch of missed potential.
Prediction:
Usually this is the part where I’d try to make the case for both teams to try and convince you that your team may have a chance. But let’s not waste each others time.
Bulldogs by 24.
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AJ Mithen
Expert
That's it for today from Hunter Stadium folks, but there's plenty more happening on The Roar. Head back to the homepage for your choice of NRL, AFL, Super Rugby and now the Olympics!! I'm going to keep an eye on the Raiders v Sharks live blog to make sure the mighty green machine get over the line... Thanks for tuning in!
AJ Mithen
Expert
VOTES 3- Moses Mbye: He helped the Bulldogs control the tempo and made good choices at halfback. Scored a try, set up a try and went 6-6 with the boot. 2- David Klemmer: Klemmer was monstrous today, pushing the Knights back on their heels time and time again and almost scoring twice. His strong work went a long way to settling things down when the Knights were up ad about. 1- Jarrod Mullen: Mullen was good for the Knights coming back from a hamstring strain. His kicking game was on song throughout the day and although he had a kick charged down which led to a score, he was the Knight's best. Honourable mentions to Pauli Pauli, Aiden Tolman and James Graham. It was a good battle in the forwards.
AJ Mithen
Expert
FULLTIME STATS POSSESSION: Knights 47%, Bulldogs 53% LINE BREAKS: Knights 1, Bulldogs 5 PENALTIES: Knights 3, Bulldogs 6 TACKLES: Knights 370, Bulldogs 305 RUN METRES: Knights 1200, Bulldogs 1524 ERRORS: Knights 8, Bulldogs 7
AJ Mithen
Expert
It did look like he took a few extra seconds to let Kasiano finish his story, didn't it!
AJ Mithen
Expert
FULLTIME - CANTERBURY 28, NEWCASTLE 14 A strong start to the second half for Newcastle got the game on level terms, but they couldn't maintain the rage and the Bulldogs get the win they wanted. Canterbury made that a bit harder than they needed to but in truth they did look a class above throughout the game and when they got back in front they switched to 'classic Bulldogs' mode, grinding the Knights and taking control of the tempo. There will be plenty for the Knights to take, their moments of great play are happening more often but they are still outweighed by poor focus and a lack of ball control. The Bulldogs won't spend much time reviewing this one. They won, they'll worry about more important things in September.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Mbye has this odd tendency where he seems to kick better when he's being talked to -- a few weeks ago against the Chooks there was a bloke in the crowd on the fence sledging him from a couple of meters away and he nailed 4/4 mostly off the sideline.
AJ Mithen
Expert
79′ Mbye swings the kick right to left to bring two more points. Sam Kasiano was in his ear the whole time... that looked quite funny. Knights 14 Bulldogs 28
AJ Mithen
Expert
79′ TRY BULLDOGS Try on the right for Sam Perrett moves the Bulldogs to third on the ladder. A good ball from Rona to set him free. Kick to come Knights 14 Bulldogs 26
AJ Mithen
Expert
79′ BUNKER BULLDOGS Checking everything... Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
78′ Knights will have their 14th consecutive loss in 2016, a club 'record'. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
76′ Hodkinson knocks on the first pass of the set from Mullen and that will do us for this afternoon. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
75′ PENALTY KNIGHTS
SquareupObstruction called. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22AJ Mithen
Expert
75′ Hodkinson loses the ball, called a 1 on 1 strip but that must mean the second man Curtis Rona wasn't there... bad call. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
72' It was smart play by Reynolds to draw that penalty. Levi shouldn't have been in the position he was in, laying across his back in the tackle and making it easy for someone who knows all the ins and outs of creating something from not much. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
71′ PENALTY GOAL BULLDOGS Mbye knocks it over. Tough from here for Newcastle and the Dogs are sticking to character. Knights 14 Bulldogs 22
AJ Mithen
Expert
71′ PENALTY BULLDOGS Hanging on to Reynolds too long, was Danny Levi. They'll kick for two and all but close this one out. Knights 14 Bulldogs 20
AJ Mithen
Expert
70′ Mamo knocks Mbye’s kick dead. Dropout to the Bulldogs and a big defensive effort required if the Knights want to stay alive. (yes, I cut and pasted that) Knights 14 Bulldogs 20
AJ Mithen
Expert
69′ Mamo knocks Mbye's kick dead. Dropout to the Bulldogs and a big defensive effort required if the Knights want to stay alive. Knights 14 Bulldogs 20
AJ Mithen
Expert
68′ For all you interchange trainspotters - the Knights only have one change left. Keep that factoid in your pocket as we approach the end of this game... Knights 14 Bulldogs 20
AJ Mithen
Expert
67′ The Bulldogs are trying to wrestle back control of this one. Yes, I know they are leading, but they want to start strangling this one with about ten to go. Knights 14 Bulldogs 20