Newcastle Knights vs Canterbury Bulldogs: NRL live scores, blog

Expert

30th June, 2018

1898 Reads

Where: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
When: 5:30pm (AEST)
TV: Live, Fox League
Betting: Newcastle $1.55, Canterbury $2.55

Knights
1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 Ken Sio, 3 Sione Mata'utia, 4 Cory Denniss, 5 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 6 Connor Watson, 7 Jack Cogger, 8 Herman Ese'ese, 9 Slade Griffin, 10 Josh King, 11 Sam Stone, 12 Mitchell Barnett, 13 Aidan Guerra (c)
Interchange: 14 Danny Levi, 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Luke Yates, 17 Jacob Lillyman
Reserves: 18 Jamie Buhrer (c), 19 Nathan Ross, 20 Brock Lamb

Bulldogs
1 Will Hopoate, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Kerrod Holland, 4 Marcelo Montoya, 5 Reimis Smith, 6 Lachlan Lewis, 7 Jeremy Marshall-King, 8 Aiden Tolman, 9 Michael Lichaa, 10 David Klemmer, 11 Josh Jackson (c), 12 Rhyse Martin, 13 Adam Elliott
Interchange: 14 Fa'amanu Brown, 15 Danny Fualalo, 16 Ofahiki Ogden, 17 Greg Eastwood

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The Knights have taken a stand. (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

Stuart Thomas

Expert

30th June, 2018

109

1898 Reads

Match result:

The Canterbury Bulldogs have given their fans some reason to be optimistic with a 20-point win over the Newcastle Knights.

Final score
Newcastle Knights 16
Canterbury Bulldogs 36

Match preview:

The Newcastle Knights and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs face off at McDonald Jones in Round 16. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 5:30pm (AEST).

To say this is a different looking Bulldogs side to pre-season expectations is something of an understatement.

Even some of the Dogs faithful will be unfamiliar with a couple of the men who will take to the field for the blue and whites.

With the departure of Aaron Woods during the week, injury to Keiran Foran and the recent loss of Moses Mbye, Canterbury have shed experience and dollars in an attempt to right the financial woes of the current roster. Injuries to Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Josh Morris make for a very thin squad.

They do welcome back Brett Morris for this game and Lachlan Lewis will make his debut at five-eighth, but the bench could be a major factor in this one, with Dean Pay’s side lacking in that area.

Newcastle need a win if they are to have any chance of hanging on to the coattails of the eight. They send a solid squad onto the park with much resting on the backs of halves Connor Watson and Jack Cogger.

Nathan Brown is still searching for consistency and after something of a promising start, the grind and toughness of the NRL competition is testing his developing team.

With just one win in the last month, Newcastle will look to claim a vital two points to recharge their season and further plummet the spirits of the Bulldogs.

Prediction
Aside from pride, it is difficult to know what Canterbury are being motivated by right now. It has been a season to forget and the Knights’ trajectory appears polar opposite.

With a noisy crowd in Newcastle, an upcoming bye and plenty for which to play, the Knights should snatch a win here and make a play for ninth spot on the ladder over the next fortnight.

Newcastle 26-14 Canterbury

Catch all the action on The Roar live from 5:30pm (AEST).

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Stuart Thomas

Expert

Stuart Thomas is a sports writer and educator who made the jump from Roar Guru to Expert in 2017. An ex-trainee professional golfer, his sporting passions are broad with particular interests in football, AFL and rugby league. His love of sport is only matched by his passion for gardening and self-sustainability.