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NRL Round 1: Newcastle Knights vs. Canberra Raiders, SuperCoach NRL scores and injury news

Newcastle star Kalyn Ponga has left a quarter of SuperCoaches kicking stones heading into the weekend after fading out of the match against the Raiders. See who starred and who stunk.

Matthew ElkertonMatthew Elkerton
@m_elkerton
8 min read
March 8, 2024 - 10:11AM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Tyson Gamble of the Knights claimed he was bitten on the arm during the elimination final against the Canberra Raiders in 2023. Picture: Getty Images
Tyson Gamble of the Knights claimed he was bitten on the arm during the elimination final against the Canberra Raiders in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

Put the Faders tag in the bin, and forget we ever used it.

This is the new and improved Raiders.

After years of being dogged by their poor finishes to matches, and ability to clock off after halftime, the Raiders came back with a bang in the opening round to defeat Newcastle 28-12 at Macdonald Jones Stadium.

The Raiders were dominant as they outpointed Newcastle 20-4 in the second half.

It was all capped off by a fantastic Harlem Globetrotters-style try for Hudson Young on the stroke of full time.

Kalyn Ponga was kept quiet in the second half as the Raiders ran wild.
Kalyn Ponga was kept quiet in the second half as the Raiders ran wild.

The Raiders were nearly perfect in the second-half, with a consolation try to Jackson Hastings with five minutes to go the only blip on the radar.

Kalyn Ponga (50 SC points) had his moments, but was barely spotted in the second half, while the story of this game was impressive Raiders recruit Zac Hosking.

The former Knight and Panther was one of the cheapies of the year last season, but has gone very much unnoticed in the off-season after joining Canberra with only 1.4 per cent of SuperCoaches getting on the Hosking Express.

They will be laughing now after he topped all scorers for the game with 82 points.

TOP SUPERCOACH SCORERS

1. Zac Hosking (2RF $511,000) - 82

2. Tyson Frizell (2RF $579,900)- 72

3. Albert Hopoate (CTW $456,900) - 69

4. Hudson Young (2RF $579,800) - 67

5. Jordan Rapana (CTW/FLB $557,500) - 65

CASUALTY WARD

Dylan Lucas, Knights (Head Knock)

Danny Levi, Raiders (Quad)

Enari Tuala, Knights (Quad)

REPORT SHEET

Leo Thompson, Knights (Crusher)

Emre Guler, Raiders (Hip Drop)

9.45PM: That is GAME OVER.

Jordan Rapana sails across almost untouched out on the wing off a rather flat pass from Albert Hopoate.

Some great lead up work from replacement hooker Tom Starling for that try, while both Morgan Smithies and Ethan Strange played their parts well.

The Knights have really cruelled themselves in this game, with poor errors leading to points on multiple occasions. This time, a bad knock on from Adam Elliott coming out of trouble.

Jordan Rapana dives across to score a try in the Raiders big win.
Jordan Rapana dives across to score a try in the Raiders big win.

9.30PM: Xavier Savage has stamped his authority on this clash, slamming the ball into the turf to put the Raiders up by two tries.

Chalk up the effort to another impressive bomb from Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty, while a slick pair of hands from Hudson Young gave Savage a sniff of the tryline.

That is all the speedster needed with the X-Factor making short work of the try.

Meanwhile Tom Starling, take a bow.

No player, especially none giving half their body weight to him, has any right to stop Greg Marzhew in his tracks.

It was emblematic of the Raiders performance in this game.

Our commenter Reg has suggested the Raiders ‘are not coached to play 80 minutes’. They might be proving you wrong here, Reg.

9.25PM: Can someone check on Joe Tapine, I have a feeling their might be a Greg Marzhew shaped treadmark on his chest.

But the Kiwi international showed pure grit to get in the way of the rampaging Knight and stop a would-be try.

Levi has been spotted off the field stretching out his hamstring with strike dummy-half Tom Starling getting his first taste of action for the 2024 season.

Who would have thought we would be questioning whether Phoenix Crossland is now SuperCoach relevant?
Who would have thought we would be questioning whether Phoenix Crossland is now SuperCoach relevant?

Is Phoenix Crossland SuperCoach relevant this season? At only 4.6 per cent ownership, he poses an interesting POD option for coaches.

Adam O’Brien obviously likes his versatility in that lock forward role, leaving him on the field despite Cogger coming on to work out of dummy-half.

He is certainly enticing, but with Jayden Brailey likely back in the next 3-4 weeks, it might not be worth the plunge.

9.15PM: Danny Levi deserved that.

The much-loved dummy-half, who has faced two seasons of wretched injury luck, has scored to put the Raiders up 14-6 early in the second half.

Levi (HOK $238,900) emerged as a real potential cheapie this week after being named in the No. 9 by Ricky Stuart, and the SuperCoaches didn’t miss with the gun in more than 20 per cent of sides come Round 1.

Long may those smart enough to make the call rejoice.

9.12PM: Sound the alarm.

Kai Pearce-Paul is on the field, and while it ended with a drop ball, his first touch will be sounding alarms for the Raiders.

The pre-season raps on the young Englishman have been HUGE - especially if all you listen to is the dulcet tones of Rob Sutherland.

Interesting reshuffle to get KPP out on the field, with Enari Tuala ruled out with a quad strain.

Reshuffle as follows for ease.

Tuala out, Dane Gagai to wing, Dylan Lucas to centre, KPP to left edge and Rob Sutherland to happiness.

Or something like that.

8.55PM: Does anyone remember when we used to not look at five different angles to see if a ball brushed a fingernail? Nah, me neither.

We have had two tries taken away by the bunker for innocuous touches on the ball, but outside of that, this game has been very well balanced so far.

The Raiders dominated the opening 20 minutes, and have the halftime lead to show for it, but the story of the first half is Hudson Young.

The Raiders backrower spent 10 minutes off the field, in which both sides crossed the stripe, for a stupid late shot on Kalyn Ponga.

The Knights superstar has dusted himself off after the hit to head to the halftime break among the top three scorers in SuperCoach.

Big bad Tyson Frizell leads the way at the break following his barnstorming try at the back end of the first half.

Newcastle celebrate a try to veteran backrower Tyson Frizell.
Newcastle celebrate a try to veteran backrower Tyson Frizell.

TOP SUPERCOACH SCORERS

1. Tyson Frizell (2RF $579, 900) - 52

2. Greg Marzhew (CTW $789, 200) – 40

3. Kalyn Ponga (FLB $892,800) – 39

4. Zac Hosking (2RF $511,000) - 37

5. Dylan Lucas (2RF $502,300) - 36

8.40PM: Tyson to Tyson. How could you go wrong?

A slick bit of sleight of hand from Tyson Gamble has sent Knights backrower Tyson Frizell crashing across for a blockbuster try.

Frizell wound back the clock with that wrong, leaving cover tacklers in his wake.

A tough break for teenage five-eighth Ethan Strange who made his first real mistake in defence, falling for the trap of superstar Kalyn Ponga out the back.

It’s the first real fault on the young fella who has already come up with two try-savers in the first half.

Hallelujah. Smithies has passed his HIA.

Off-season recruit Zac Hosking scored his side’s first try of the season.
Off-season recruit Zac Hosking scored his side’s first try of the season.

8.35PM: Popular off-season recruit Zac Hosking is the first man to score a try on Australian soil in the NRL this season.

Despite being down a man, with Hudson Young in the sin bin, the Raiders muscled up on attack to push their lead out to eight points.

Hosking (2RF, 511,000) showed a hunger to get to the ball after a pinpoint Jamal Fogarty bomb landed on top of the tryline.

Hosking has shot out to 30 points on the SuperCoach live score which is still led by the Knights superstar fullback on 32.

8.30PM: Kalyn goes bang.

Oh wait, maybe not. The most exciting moment of this game so far and it has been taken away by an obstruction call.

I can already hear the Captain Kalyn brigade crying where is he meant to go.

But this one has been stopped because of a Saifiti brother standing in the way.

Oh hold on, this just keeps getting interesting. Hudson Young has been sensationally sin-binned for unnecessary contact on Ponga after he let go of the ball.

There is a minor concern for Ponga who seemed to hit his head pretty hard on the ground, but we all seem clear.

Please stop. Morgan Smithies is also out of the game for the time being with a HIA check. He is only CAT 2 and a chance to come back.

8.20PM: We have our first points of the NRL season on home soil, and it is a penalty goal.

How anticlimactic.

But the Raiders have taken the lead on the road, accepting a gift two points from right in front after Knights front-rower Leo Thompson was put on report for a crusher tackle on Joe Tapine.

The home side has been it’s own worst enemy putting kicks out on the full, dropping the ball and giving away multiple sets of six in defence.

8.09PM: Popular pre-season cheapie Xavier Savage (CTW $350,200) has been robbed of a perfect start to the season after having a try taken away from him against the Knights.

Savage pounced on a loose ball after what appeared to be a simple knock-on from Knights star Kalyn Ponga.

But the video referee had the final say after replay clearly showed Albert Hopoate got his giant left mit to the ball on the way down.

Savage has had several glimpses of the serious speed he possesses, if he hits open pastures it will be lights out.

7.45PM: We’re 15 minutes from kick off in the Steel City, and still the question remains.

Do we unleash Captain Kalyn?

Ponga, sporting his slick bleach blond hairdo, paraded well during the warm-ups.

He is the second-most popular captaincy option for the opening round with more than a fifth of SuperCoaches taking the plunge on the reigning Dally M Medallist.

Newcastle Knights captain Kalyn Ponga.
Newcastle Knights captain Kalyn Ponga.

It’s for good reason too with Ponga tearing the Raiders apart in their only regular season meeting last year, scoring a try and playing a hand in two others to finish with 122 points.

It’s also good to hear Ricky Stuart describe English debutant Morgan Smithies as a “real footyhead” in the build up to this one.

He is one of us.

Welcome to the family, Smithies.

7PM: Phew. Did you hear that?

That was the sigh of relief from the almost 90,000 people who have locked in Ethan Strange for Round 1.

The game’s most popular player, who is in almost 65 per cent of all teams, will take his place in the starting side for tonight’s clash after the teams were confirmed an hour before kick-off.

Both Adam O’Brien and Ricky Stuart have steered clear of playing any last-minute games with their squads, locking in their sides 1-17 an hour before kick-off.

It means genuine cheapie options Morgan Smithies (2RF $345,000), who has shot up in ownership today to more than 30 per cent of all SuperCoaches, and Danny Levi (HOK $238,900) remain viable options to include in your 17.

It also means my dreams of seeing exciting Englishman Kai Pearce-Paul (2RF $345,000) running off the left hip of Kalyn Ponga might have to wait a bit.

While you eagerly await kick-off, catch up on Tom Sangsters 485th iteration of his team for Round 1, which he has promised me is the final one... for tonight.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has decided to stick with Ethan Strange for the first game.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has decided to stick with Ethan Strange for the first game.

EARLIER: The Las Vegas experiment is done and dusted for 2024, now the ‘real’ rugby league kicks off and we’ve a cracker of a game to start the round with a replay of the 2023 elimination final in which the Knights defeated the Raiders.

The teeth will hopefully be kept well clear of any arms, but don’t expect that to stop Tyson Gamble (5-8, $487,800) from giving his rivals a gobful.

In the land of SuperCoach, opening round games don’t come much more important than this.

Newcastle superstar Kalyn Ponga is currently the second most captained player in SuperCoach NRL and that rate is climbing as owners bank on the reigning Dally M medallist to go large against the Raiders tonight.

And even those who are still stuck in that Viva Las Vegas mindset, and are rolling the dice without Ponga in the line up, will have plenty of skin in the game with the Raiders fielding a plethora of popular picks in:

* gun cheapie Ethan Strange (the most popular player in the competition) starting at five-eighth

* English import Morgan Smithies starting at lock

* Xavier Savage on one wing, and

* Bottom-dollar Danny Levi starting at hooker.

Originally published as NRL Round 1: Newcastle Knights vs. Canberra Raiders, SuperCoach NRL scores and injury news

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Original URL: https://www.ntnews.com.au/sport/nrl/supercoach-news/nrl-round-1-live-newcastle-knights-vs-canberra-raiders/news-story/989af1fad6013ea6d563e2d3e9224c73