Canberra have kicked off their post-Jack Wighton era in impressive fashion, grinding their way to a 28-12 NRL win over Newcastle.
The question has raged all summer as to how much the Raiders would miss Wighton’s star power after the one-club man made his off-season switch to South Sydney.
But with the evidence on show in front of a 22,378 crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium on Thursday, coach Ricky Stuart looks to have assembled a side that will be up for a dogfight every week.
The major concern for Stuart’s men on a near-faultless night was back-rower Hudson Young being sent to the sin-bin for a late shot on Kalyn Ponga in the first half.
Prop Emre Guler was placed on report for a hip-drop challenge, and both will nervously await the outcome of the match review committee on Friday.
Newcastle dominated the opening 20 minutes but were unable to find a way through a stubborn Canberra side, who had taken the lead after Jamal Fogarty nudged a penalty to put them 2-0 up.
As was a theme throughout the back end of last year, it fell to reigning Dally M medallist Ponga to weave some magic for the Knights, and a kick return finished with Tyson Gamble crossing under the posts.
The celebrations were short-lived, however, with replays showing Ponga went through a gap that was in part created after Raiders hooker Danny Levi had been taken out illegally
As Ponga’s run was shown on the screen, the Newcastle crowd clamoured for action after it was shown Young had whacked their fullback late.
Referee Todd Smith sent Young to the sin-bin but the Raiders retained the initial penalty and scored on the following set when Zac Hosking claimed a Fogarty bomb and touched down.
Newcastle quickly hit back, Tyson Frizell running through the gap Young ought to have been standing in to cut the Raiders’ lead to 8-6 at the halftime break.
Levi crashed over soon after the match resumed to open up an eight-point lead for the Green Machine.
And from there the Raiders kicked on, with tries in the final 15 minutes from Xavier Savage, Jordan Rapana and Young securing the club’s first opening-round win since the 2019 season.
