Raiders ambush sluggish Knights for season's first upset

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Newcastle Knights v Canberra Raiders

The Canberra Raiders have surprised the critics with a commanding 28-12 victory over a sluggish Newcastle Knights side away from home at McDonald Jones Stadium in front of over 22,000 fans.

Both sides were semi-finalists last season and had points to prove heading into the 2024 season. The opening half was marred by mistakes, poor discipline, some scrappy attacking footy and a brain snap by an Origin star.

Canberra had the first scoring opportunity after six minutes. Albert Hopoate was ruled to have knocked the ball on in the contest and the first of four first half referred no tries was chalked off. The Raiders continued to build field position and were awarded a dubious penalty when Joe Tapine backed into contact and Leo Thompson inadvertently put pressure on the back of his neck. Jamal Fogarty added the penalty goal in the 14th minute for a 2-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Kalyn Ponga broke through some flimsy Canberra defence before linking up with Tyson Gamble to score. There was just one MAJOR problem, Danny Levi was obstructed from getting to Gamble. In the same play, Ponga was hit late in the head off the ball by Hudson Young. Young was quickly dispatched to the bin by Todd Smith.

Two minutes after losing Young, the Raiders crossed first. A clever crossfield kick from Fogarty was well weighted. Zac Hosking flew through between the crowd of bodies to get to the ball first to score for the Raiders. Fogarty added the extras for an 8-0 lead. Newcastle were able to make most of the extra man advantage and hit back quickly. Tyson Gamble in game 50 soon joined in on the fun with a clever short pass to Frizell who fools the left edge of the Raiders to charge across. Ponga added the extras and we remained at 8-6 through the first 40 minutes. 

Canberra opened the second half in fine style. Off the back of some poor discipline from the Knights. Danny Levi burrowed his way between Daniel Saifiti and Jack Hetherington (two defenders who should've done better) to cross and make the SuperCoach owners and Ricky Stuart happy as it was out to 14-6. 

Newcastle had some scoring opportunities with Greg Marzhew denied after being held up by tenacious defenders. Where the Knights struggled in attack, Canberra flourished and practically sealed the match 17 minutes from time. Fogarty's kick was taken brilliantly in traffic by Hopoate who found Young to quickly get it onto Savage who showed great speed to get it down in the left corner. Fogarty missed the conversion to leave the margin at 12. 

Canberra took advantage of their opportunities and confidently took home the two points two minutes later. Tom Starling poked his nose through. Got an incredibly quick play the ball. A spread across the backline sees Ethan Strange and Hopoate combine before finding Jordan Rapana to cement Canberra's margin. 

Newcastle didn't go down without a fight when Hastings got one back for over 22,000 in attendance with five to go. A show-and-go in between Hosking and Fogarty saw the English international race away to score. In the dying moments, Emre Guler refused to let the play die, linking up with Hosking, who in turn found Young to crash over to put an exclamation mark on this one.

For Canberra, it's a win that proves the doubters and critics wrong for now. Meanwhile, the Knights were scrappy in attack and sloppy with their discipline. Issues that will have to improve quickly, if the Knights are going to compete to where we know they can. 

Match Highlights - #NRLKnightsRaiders

Almost six months on from being kicked out of the 2023 finals, the Raiders have sort revenge from their Newcastle counterparts, downing the Knights 28-12. pic.twitter.com/Vu3vIkxPDC

— NRL (@NRL) March 7, 2024