Newcastle Knights
12
Match Complete
Canberra Raiders
28
| 80 |  | J. Fogarty | ||
| 79 |  | H. Young | ||
| K. Ponga | | 76 | ||
| J. Hastings | | 76 | ||
| 69 | | J. Rapana | ||
| 63 | | X. Savage | ||
| 48 | | J. Fogarty | ||
| 47 | | D. Levi | ||
| K. Ponga | | 32 | ||
| T. Frizell | | 30 | ||
| 26 | | J. Fogarty | ||
| 25 | | Z. Hosking | ||
| 15 |  | J. Fogarty |
| 2 | Tries | 5 | ||
| 2 | Conversions | 3 | ||
| 0 | Penalty Goals | 1 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The first round of the NRL season continues tonight when the Newcastle Knights take on the Canberra Raiders at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 8:00pm (AEDT).
Ricky Stuart is urging Canberra fans to be patient with teenage five-eighth Ethan Strange as he deploys his playmaker of the future in Newcastle.
Strange, 19, beat Kaeo Weekes to the No.6 jersey for Thursday night’s clash at McDonald Jones Stadium, where some young Raider faces will look to defy lowly pre-season expectations and beat the more fancied Knights.
In their first outing of the post-Jack Wighton era, Strange will pair with veteran Jamal Fogarty in the halves against a Newcastle side that rattled off 10 straight wins to reach last season’s semi-finals.
In the Knights line-up, Enari Tuala takes Sydney Roosters-bound Dominic Young’s vacant wing spot, with recruits Jack Cogger and Kai Pearce-Paul coming off the bench.
Game information
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Kick-off: 8:00pm (AEDT)
TV: Nine, Fox Sports
Streaming: Kayo Sports, Foxtel
Odds: Knights $1.40 Raiders $3.00 – odds via PlayUp
Teams
Knights: 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Enari Tuala 3. Dane Gagai 4. Bradman Best 5. Greg Marzhew 6. Tyson Gamble 7. Jackson Hastings 8. Jacob Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Leo Thompson 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Dylan Lucas 13. Adam Elliott 14. Jack Cogger 15. Daniel Saifiti 16. Jack Hetherington 17. Kai Pearce-Paul 18. Jed Cartwright 19. Thomas Jenkins 20. Will Pryce 21. Brodie Jones 22. Thomas Cant
Raiders: 1. Jordan Rapana 2. Nick Cotric 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Albert Hopoate 5. Xavier Savage 6. Ethan Strange 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Danny Levi 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Zac Hosking 13. Morgan Smithies 14. Tom Starling 15. Emre Guler 16. Ata Mariota 17. Pasami Saulo 18. Kaeo Weekes 19. Simi Sasagi 20. Zac Woolford 21. James Schiller 22. Trey Mooney
steveng
Roar Rookie
Yep: laughing: I don't know, yes Jack is going to make an impact, but Souths are just the same old same old stale go through their paces and if Trell doesn't have a go none of them do, you can't win games or premierships with an attitude like they have developed! That game against Manly was very disappointing as I really thought that they would beat Manly easily if they continued to have a go in the 2nd half, but they didn't and reverted to last year's efforts and like from R12, I hope Jack can wake these boofheads up as they really need it, otherwise they are NO chance.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Will be fascinating to see how Souths go with Jack playing in the centres. Could be good for both Souths and the Raiders with him making the move.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Good luck mate the Raiders were good last night and look like they will do very well in 2024 as top 8 side. :thumbup:
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yep… side to side is a good description of the knights attack Interestingly two hard straight runs created their best opportunities. Frizell for his try and Ponga for the disallowed try…
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Thought Levi was pretty good in the time he spent on the field. To be fair he has been the best of the 9s during the trials and Ricky rewarded him. Poor bugger only played about 4 games last year with two broken jaws.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Good on you steve - can't blame me for getting a bit excited. Long season ahead.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Thanks David. There is a bit of excitement about the Raiders this season. Lots of new faces. Smithies and Hosking made a big difference. They still have that dour defence but also a bit of spontaneity in attack in that second half. I like what Hudson Young brings at times. And good to see young Savage getting involved. I'm predicting a big year for him. Early days but encouraging.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Hey Geoff I tipped the Raiders on the Roar tipping it’s my first as the Bunnies and Bronx let me down. Good work tonight but remember it’s only R1 :laughing:
David Holden
Roar Guru
Must have bookmarked that at half time....Well done to the Raiders, Geoff. Totally deserved the win
David Holden
Roar Guru
Thanks for following the blog tonight. I will be back tomorrow night for the Storm and Panthers
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Zac Hosking was amazing - along with Papa, Levi and Rapa. Just a wonderful first up effort.
Phil
Roar Rookie
Fantastic game from Canberra, a joy to watch. Newcastle made far too many mistakes and that was because of pressure from Canberra. I've never been one to say anything complimentary about Sticky but will concede he has his team firing. Newcastle had no answer to the relentless defence they faced, belted out of the game. As for my tipping, that's three duds from three.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Bit of a concern how much the Knights got dominated through the middle They didn’t have a lot of attacking ball but didn’t look very threatening, lots of errors Raiders played tough, not always pretty. I’ve picked Smithies in my SuperCoach team so kept an eye on him tonight. Looks likely. Pretty big unit but kept chasing everything, did a bit of ball playing. Impressive debut
David Holden
Roar Guru
The Knights attack got blunted with Kalyn Ponga having a limited impact. It's way too early to question the Knights credentials but they did seem a bit side to side in attack when the game was on the line
David Holden
Roar Guru
The Raiders have caused a big upset tonight toppling the Knights. They went 18 from 18 in sets in the second half and were good enough to take their chances late. They have a good recruit in Morgan Smithies who fitted right into the Raiders game. Zac Hosking was also really impressive
80
79
Dutski
Roar Guru
Raiders too good by far. Young Strange did some good work, Young did some strange things and Rapana, despite that rotten moustache, was excellent. Not much to like from a Knoghts point of view by Paul-Pierce looks a likely option, Best and Ponga are both quality. So good to have the footy back!
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
So much for that prediction.
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