Young in trouble for Ponga hit as Raiders ambush Knights first-up

HUDSON HIT: Hudson Young was placed on report and sent to the sin-bin for a late high shot on Kalyn Ponga.

Ponga had skipped down field midway through the first half and passed to Tyson Gamble when he was flattened by Young. The hit looked worse in slow-mo.

Ponga’s concussion history always adds to the anxiety whenever he is hit in the melon, or what referee Todd Smith called “totally unnecessary”.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was struggling to work out what the sin-binning was for, and asked: “Pushing?”

“The buzz word is ‘discretionary’, isn’t it” It was a discretionary decision,” Stuart said.

“Penalise him, but if we’re going to start sin-binning people for that, we’ll play a lot of games with 12 [players].”

BAD KNIGHTS: Maybe Newcastle over-achieved last year and we were all getting a bit carried away with their actual ability. They were expected to win, and win easily, but they were poor, and basically dominated after 15 minutes. They barely looked like scoring. You don’t have to be Einstein to realise a team rarely wins when they complete at nearly less than 70 per cent. The Cowboys, Storm and Warriors await.

PAPALII FUTURE: Josh Papalii is 31 and it remains to be seen what happens beyond this season. But he is still a weapon, and his play to shove Greg Marzhew back into the in-goal midway through the second half ended any chance of a Knights’ comeback. The Raiders pack is in good shape. Joe Tapine is a machine, Zac Hosking an excellent pick-up, while Hudson Young has that mongrel Ricky Stuart loves. Never write off the Stickman and the Green Machine.

What the coaches said:

NEWCASTLE’S ADAM O’BRIEN: “Our game lacked any sort of grit. We were impatient, and it felt like we wanted the highlight reel, while the other mob, when you score four tries on the last play, and they were scrappy tries, but they wanted to come here and get into a scrap, and I don’t reckon we did.

“We got a lesson in what wins the first month of footy, and that’s high completions, working hard all the way through to the end of the set, and not looking for the easy way out.”

RAIDERS COACH RICKY STUART: ”It’s only game one. It’s been a fun off-season, all the younger players have rejuvenated [the club], and [added] energy, and when the senior boys come back after their World Cup commitments and break, they took training to another standard. I have to credit the buy-in of the whole group.”

Jackson Hastings scored a consolation try, then Hudson Young bagged his own before full-time to make it 28-12.

Wow. TV commentators are saying the Green Machine completed all 18 sets ibn the second half. Take a bow. Newcastle needs a cold shower.

Jordan Rapana has just scored in the corner. That’s 22-6. Stop the fight. Expect the locals to start shuffling to the exit.

Canberra have caused an upset. For the record, I’m now 0-3 in the tips. How good is rugby leeeague.

The Raiders have wanted it more. The Knights have been awful.

Remember kids, it is only round one.

Josh Papalii has produced a huge play. The Knights allowed the ball to bounce, Greg Marzhew scooped up the ball, was hit by Tom Starling, then somehow shoved back into the in-goal by the powerhouse Queenslander. What a play.

The 31-year-old has still got it.

Yeah, baby: Xavier Savage scoreCredit: Getty Images

A couple of minutes later, Xavier Savage scored in the corner. He can thank Papalii.

Jamal Fogarty sent another one to the heavens, Albert Hopoate caught the ball, fiued it to Hudson Young who then fired it hard to Savage.

That’s 18-6 Canberra. What’s doing, Newcastle?

Danny Levi ducks over from dummy-half to extend Canberra’s lead.

The hooker did well to evade Daniel Saifiti and Jack Hetherington. And to think Levi was probably the rank outsider for the dummy-half role behind Tom Starling and Zac Woolford over the summer.

Make that 14-6 to the Raiders with half an hour to go.

There were a couple of tries denied in the space of one minute just before half-time.

The Raider with the coolest hair, Pasami Saulo (sorry Josh Papalii) thought he had his first-ever NRL ‘meat pie’, only for Todd Smith to deny him.

Jackson Hastings is stopped by the Raiders defenceCredit: Getty Images

A Jamal Fogarty kick failed to touch any player, including Canberra fullback Jordan Rapana. Because Smith said, ‘not on my watch’, the bunker said they had insufficient evidence to overturn the decision. Poor Saulo.

Then Bradman Best had a try rubbed out because Dylan Lucas knocked on when leaping for the ball. That was the right call.

Canberra lead 8-6 at the break.

Canberra forward Emre Guler is now on report for a hip-drop tackle on Dylan Lucas.

The Knights then march down field and hit back through Tyson Frizell. Knights trail 8-6.

The Raiders now lead 8-0 after new recruit Zac Hosking scores on debut for the club.

The former Broncos and Panthers forward caught a cross-field Jamal Fogarty kick for a simple four-pointer.

Despite being a man down, the Raiders are clearly on top.

The drama is starting.

Kalyn Ponga split two defenders with a kick return, charged 45m and passed for Tyson Gamble to score.

But referee Todd Smith spotted an obstruction with Tyson Frizell who stopped Danny Levi from getting to Ponga.

Hudson Young is binned for a late and high shot on Kalyn PongaCredit: Getty

As the Knights fans were shaking their heads, replays showed Raiders enforcer Hudson Young smashing Ponga in the head after he had passed the ball.

If it was Origin time, every NSW fan would have loved it.

But it is always a concern when Ponga is hit high given his lengthy concussion history.

Young was told it was “unnecessary conduct” and given a ten-minute spell. Ponga seems OK.

Leo Thompson is on report for a crusher tackle on Joe Tapine. Thompson will have nothing to worry about. But the tackle gifted Canberra a gift two points from in front of the sticks.

Canberra leads 2-0 after 15 minutes.

Kalyn Ponga then launches the kick-off out on the full. More points could be on the way for the Raiders.