Ruthless Raiders make Newcastle’s trip to Canberra a Knightmare

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Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights

The Canberra Raiders have made it nine in a row with an emphatic 44-18 victory over the Newcastle Knight to extend their lead atop the premiership ladder.

Surging to victory with four unanswered tries after halftime, the Raiders asserted their dominance to claim multiple wins over the Knights in the same season for only the fourth time in the NRL era.

Having finished last week's victory with a point-scoring flurry, the Raiders picked up from where they left off with Kaeo Weekes (9th minute) supporting a Jed Stuart break down the left touchline for first points.

The Knights levelled up through Kai Pearce-Paul (18th minute), who burst onto an offload from Leo Thompson, only for former Newcastle utility Simi Sasagi (24th minute) to break through a feeble attempted tackle by Tyson Gamble and Kyle McCarthy to put the hosts back in front. 

In a tit-for-tat contest that saw Greg Marzhew (34th minute) strike only for Xavier Savage (38th minute) to respond to seemingly put the home side ahead at the break, a moment of madness from the Raiders inside their own half allowed Fletcher Hunt (40th minute) to swoop on an intercept to bring the first half to a close locked at 18-all. 

A contentious bunker ruling went the way of the Raiders early in the second half with Tom Starling (46th minute) getting the green light on a try, despite questions over Savage being tackled before passing and the Newcastle defence being obstructed.

The Raiders managed to snap the try-for-try deadlock through Matt Timoko (54th minute) before Fogarty added a penalty goal to push the hosts beyond two converted tries.

Late tries to Noah Martin (67th minute) and Timoko (72nd minute) pushed the Raiders past 40 points for the fifth time this season, while the score could have reached a half century if not for the bunker denying Corey Horsburgh and Savage in the dying stages.  

Next week, the Raiders will travel to Wollongong on Saturday evening to take on the Dragons, while the Knights will have their final bye of the season.