The Knights and Bulldogs always put on a show. Neither has been top eight material in recent times and matches between the two always present an opportunity to snatch a valuable two competition points.
At McDonald Jones Stadium last night, the match became a gripping and enthralling grapple between two teams determined to win and afraid to lose.
For the Knights, a victory would solidify a spot in the eight, while the Bulldogs dreamed of extricating themselves from the bowels of the ladder with another win, off the back of their Round 15 victory against the Sharks.
It took just six minutes for the home side to hit the scoreboard. Mitchell Pearce rode the wave of exhilaration from Wednesday night and delivered a perfect ball to Shaun Kenny-Dowall to open the scoring in the corner, before Mason Lino nailed the conversion.
It looked ominous for the Dogs, yet they dug in well after being dominated through the centre of the ruck early. In fact, but for a desperate defensive effort on the try line to prevent Marcello Montoya from scoring, the Bulldogs would have drawn level within 30 minutes.
Further chances followed for Canterbury, yet the Knights continued to use their newest weapon; a hard edge in defence inside their own 20 that Nathan Brown has crafted through dint of hard work.
It left the home side leading 6-0 heading to the sheds and most fans a little surprised that more points had not been scored. The Knights had looked the better side and an opening of the floodgates appeared likely after the break.
A Dylan Napa high shot and a continuation of the poor ball control that had hampered the Bulldogs in the opening term led to an early penalty goal to Lino that stretched the locals’ lead to eight.
Sadly for the blue and whites, the errors kept coming in both their attacking and defensive zones until Montoya took an intercept and Will Hopoate crashed over to give the Bulldogs a sniff, as the match neared its final 20 minutes.
Nick Meaney’s conversion brought the Bulldogs to within two and down by 8-6.
Then, the team that can’t play and the coach that can’t coach made their moves. James Gavet was sent to the sin bin for a late hit on Chris Smith and Meaney’s penalty goal brought the teams level at 8-8.
The Bulldogs upset the Knights. (Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
Minutes later, Brandon Wakeham hit Corey Harawira-Naera on the left edge and the try and subsequent conversion sent the Bulldogs to a 14-8 lead. A Newcastle error from the restart gave the Bulldogs more field position and Reimis Smith produced an aerial miracle on the right wing soon after.
With just nine minutes remaining, Meaney’s conversion sent the Dogs to a commanding 20-8 lead.
A bumbling Napa error gave the Knights a sniff when Kenny-Dowall pounced on a dropped ball to score soon after, yet the Bulldogs managed the game well to protect their 20-14 lead all the way to the final whistle.
For a team supposedly bereft of talent and poorly coached, the Bulldogs have enjoyed a morale-boosting fortnight.
Earlier in the evening the Panthers, in search of a sixth straight win and a spot in the top eight, faced the 15th placed Titans.
James Maloney found the energy to back up after an exhausting Origin effort on Wednesday night and young Jed Cartwright made his debut in an increasingly confident Panthers unit.
Just a penalty separated the teams early, after a Maloney kick gave the Panthers the lead. A goal-line infringement from Penrith saw Tyrone Roberts level things up in the 20th minute.
The match was far from one to write home about that point, despite some willing efforts and a few half-chances that both sides failed to parlay into points.
Then, the Titans frustrating season was encapsulated in a ten minute period where they received six straight penalties yet failed to convert and Dylan Edwards scored for the Panthers after they soaked up immense pressure on their own line.
For Titans fans, it was awful to watch.
Insult was added to injury when a sweeping Maloney pass found Brian To’o on the right flank and the winger crossed athletically in the corner. The Blues’ pivot converted to send the mountain men to the lead at the break with a 14-2 advantage and the Titans’ season appeared to be going from bad to worse.
It took some time for the Panthers to assert their dominance after half time – 30 minutes in fact – but Edwards’ second try and another To’o four-pointer sent the Panthers clear, with the hapless Titans looking more and more like the rabble they have unfortunately become.
The 24-2 final score line summed up the current plights of both clubs, with the Titans looking for change and the Panthers on a roll.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Lord please no... Dragons still have to face Titans twice..... I'm sure Mary was looking ahead and thought.. yup, there's two we will win.
Dandragon
Roar Rookie
Why is it that you can’t process ANYTHING NRL without considering its relevance to Souths?
Clanger McClunk
Guest
In the first half last night two things stood out to me. Canterbury were out to give it everything and Mitchell Pearce overplayed his role. I remember Gus Gould a few years ago saying in commentary during SOO Paul Gallen was trying to do too much and was a selfish player for taking too many hit ups. Similar story last night with Pearce wanting the ball every play, which is fair enough at times but his plays only seemed to rev up Canterbury. With all the field position Newcastle had, Pearce couldn't come up with more point scoring plays. His pass to SKD was good, yes, but it did have a good dose of luck to it
Superspud
Roar Rookie
You never know. A new coach usually leads to a few wins.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Every team in the comp has a good enough roster to win some games. The Knights are losing again because they aren't rolling their sleeves up but the Dogs are having a real crack. It's rarely a good idea to decline an easy two points from a penalty goal when leading by 6 but that's what the Knights did and it showed a lack of respect for their opponents. The heat seems to be coming off Ivan Cleary and his pretty decent roster is winning games. I haven't seen much of the Knights 5/8 but his charge up in defence to take no one and leave a huge gap was suicidal.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Coming 15th on the ladder after 17 rounds and with just THREE wins from their last NINE games is NOT doing OK. Souths may have lost 4 in a row with a depleted side but after 16 rounds they were still coming 3rd on the competition ladder and only 7 points differential off being in 2nd place. Massive difference. The Dogs goal line defence overall was key to their win last night but they still missed 47 tackles to the Knights 35 with 24 ineffective tackles to the Knights 18 so more work is needed. They also had almost double the errors with 14 to the Knights 8 and a 68% completion rate which hovered under 60% for much of the match. All signs that MASSIVE improvement is still needed. However, when you are sitting at the bottom of the NRL ladder ANY win by ANY means is cause for celebration. The Dogs now have 2 wins from their last 6 games which, amazingly enough, is the SAME stat currently shared by the Roosters and the Rabbitohs who are coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Insider
Roar Rookie
It looks like there is obviously a problem and it should be addressed, any betting on games should also be halted until its fixed, if refs aren’t up to standard sack em! demotion to a lower league doesn’t fix anything, have you seen the standard of refs in the lower divisions it pathetic! pay them a decent wage and we would have a higher standard,
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
How is it that teams that are down & out and in salary cap situations and have other financial restraints because of poor management go out and appoint a Rookie 1st grade coach and expect them to work miracles immediately. The dogs are slowly working their way through the inherited problems and doing a very good job of it. Would they have been better with some of the players they had to let go, probably would have been but when you start playing around with back ended contracts that is the sort of problems it causes and that is a management problem and the players end up paying for. I had either the Titans or the Warriors as my wooden spooner's and looks like the Titans are winning that race. Dogs in the 8 I doubt it but they will not die wondering that is for sure ..
Stuart Thomas
Expert
I agree and wrote a piece a few weeks back for another site where I did a full statistical analysis of the massive discrepancies in the number of penalties given by the different referees. It involved countless hours of research and the results were astonishing. Such data would hold them to account yet as Superspud points out below/above, what does that actually look like?
Superspud
Roar Rookie
But what does making refs accountable look like. You drop a ref to Canterbury cup and then what? Does anything improve?
Paul
Roar Guru
Every season throws up what I call "a head scratching team", BA. This year it's been the Titans for sure. On paper, at the start of the season, they were certs to make the finals IMO, but now they're even money for the wooden spoon. Sad to see a Club with that sort of talent going the wrong way.
Paul
Roar Guru
There was a Roar article last week(?) about scheduling around SOO and used the Knights as an example, where they had two games, at home, they normally would have been expected to win, given current form, but because of SOO they were a good chance to lose - and they did. Kudos to the Doggies for taking the points ( in spite of Napa), but Knights fans will be fuming if they miss the finals in part due to scheduling.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Cash out option on my pre-season "Titans to make the 8" bet just slumped to 0.21c.... I think I missed my window to bail on that one...
Insider
Roar Rookie
I agree and disagree with that response Stuart, players, coaches are scrutinised relentlessly! This SOO series was a classic example, many here expressed this when responding to the countless stories all with the same themes, it’s easy criticising the refs agree however the time has come that figures and statistics be published ( just like the performances of players and coaches) so as everyone can clearly see that their is a serious problem. It’s how you present your argument! Latrell has been hammered from every corner, is expected to front media yet these untouchables are protected! REFS MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE they to represent the game
Stuart Thomas
Expert
In fairness to the media, I think most have just given up. Flogging a dead horse really. If one does choose to focus on the referees you are accused of being negative. In turn, dopey decisions get a slap over the wrist and Sutton and co win their spot back in first grade a week or two later. A stupid cycle that never seems to change and most writers probably choose to focus on the footy and let someone else worry about the inevitable bunker/referee nonsense.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Dogs will win 9 in a row and make the eight. Then a Kieran Foran masterclass will take them on a further 4 game streak all the way to the title. Send me your money and I will invest it for you at the TAB on this prediction. (*booking fee 20%).
Insider
Roar Rookie
the NRL’s referees are worse than rubbish When will the media and jurnos address this? If these referees performances were to be examined like that of coaches, players, CEO’s the NRL would be holding crisis meetings