Raiders & Knights share spoils in a frantic and entertaining draw

v BYE

The Newcastle Knights played their first game at home this season with a zero in the win column, whilst the Canberra Raiders were looking to continue their great home form away at Hunter Stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Knights came into this game with changes aplenty as Gagai moved to fullback, replacing Feeney as well the absence of Daniel Saifiti and Akuila Uate. Cory Denniss would debut on the wing whilst Sione Mata'utia started in the centres and Pauli Pauli and Mickey Paea joined the bench. The Raiders lost Lachlan Croker as they sported another new half combination with Elliott Whitehead moving to the number six. Joseph Tapine would get a chance to play against his old club that are still dirty to have lost him.

The Knights attacked early, but were held out by tight Raiders defence before the hero of last week, hooker Josh Hodgson, kicked a big 40/20 to catapult the visiting team down the field.

The ensuing set saw Sam Williams grubber a deft kick in to the Knights' in-goal and Josh Papalii, despite a lot of Knights attention, dive over to open the scoring for the day.

Following this, the Raiders had all the chances as the Knights struggled to make use of the ball and were incurring constant penalties. The defence opened up in the 13th minute again as Elliott Whitehead strolled through and popped the pass to Iosia Soliola who scored the Raiders second.

In the 20th minute, the Knights looked to have scored their first points after a clever little grubber from Trent Hodkinson for himself was cleaned up, but after the bunker review, it was judged that Robbie Rochow was in front of the kicker and impeded the Raiders fullback, Wighton. It is a decision that could have gone either way, but the disappointment in the Knights was obvious.

At this point, Knights new recruit, Pauli Pauli came into the attack and looked strong for most of the game, inspiring offloads and giving the Knights some spark. It was the Raiders though, on the back of a 6-1 penalty count, who would score again to make it 16-0 with just under half an hour of the game gone.

In the final ten minutes of the half, the Knights were desperate for something but again the bunker would deny them after an obstruction from Sione Mata'utia on Sam Williams prevented their opening try. Finally it was Jarrod Mullen, playing in his 200th game, who would inspire his team with a break down the field through some tired Raiders defence. He found debutant, Cory Denniss, on the right wing to get the Knights on the board right on the stroke of half-time.

The change of sides seemed to favour the team running with the breeze as the Knights took advantage early in the second half. Their passing started to freshen up, but they failed to convert their chances with sloppy finishing. 

Dane Gagai failed to pass to an un-marked winger and Jeremy Smith fumbled the ball as he dived for a try and when Jarrod Croker extended the Raiders lead to twelve with just over 20 minutes to go, it seemed that the Knights might struggle to catch them.  

It took until the 63rd minute, on the back of three consecutive penalties, for the Knights to finally score through big forward, Sam Mataora. This try was quickly followed up by a smart step and fore-arm from Pat Mata'utia and a neat cut-out ball to winger, Cory Denniss scoring his second on debut and all of a sudden, in the space of eight minutes, the Knights took the lead 24-18.

The Raiders weren't done however, and thanks to a tip-toeing Jordan Rapana down the right wing and a ball popped back inside to try scorer, Brenko Lee, it was down to Jarrod Croker to slot a conversion from the sideline to level the scores with two minutes to go.

This guaranteed we would be heading to golden point and although the Raiders started with the ball and the breeze, the first attempt from Sam Williams was poor. The two teams proceeded to trade field goal attempts, but neither team got close by the halfway point of extra time. Jarrod Croker even attempted a 52 metre penalty goal, but it was well short.

Four more field goal attempts were made in the final five minutes with Sam Williams having the best of the chances, but neither team could even come close. Mullen's final attempt on the final siren was short and we finished with our first draw in three years.

Both teams would have felt they should have won this game, but in the end, a draw seemed a fitting result for an entertaining and free flowing game.

Iosia Soliola had a barn-storming game, whilst Mullen showed that he still has it after 200 games. Dane Gagai at fullback, whilst making some darting runs, would be disappointed not to have taken more chances. 

The Canberra Raiders remain undefeated after three rounds and return home against the Gold Coast Titans next week, whilst the Newcastle Knights will have to hope the one point gives them some impetus as they head across the ditch to New Zealand next week.