Newcastle has emerged with a surprise victory over the Dolphins, despite the absence of star fullback Kalyn Ponga.
With their captain sidelined due to a foot injury, the visitors arrived at Suncorp Stadium as the outsiders, but held on for an 18-14 triumph in a spirited display.
Taking a narrow four-point lead into the break, the contest was in the balance until Tyson Gamble’s 47th minute try, which saw the Knights capitalise on some lazy defence from the Dolphins as Phoenix Crossland burst through the line.
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“Sloppy defence … that is paper thin by the Dolphins,” Andrew Voss said on Fox League.
Replays showed some smart eyes-up footy from Jackson Hastings, who managed to spot a slight overlap and capitalised to put Crossland through a hole.
“Just have a look where Hastings comes in … he is setting up on the right-hand side, but comes around to the left and produces that extra man,” league great Steve Roach said.
“It was pretty ordinary defence in the front-line there and they go straight through. [Kodi] Nikorima went up in front of his man and that always creates an issue.”
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Newcastle added a further two points with 14 minutes to go and extended their lead to two converted tries, before resisting a late flurry from Jake Averillo and Jamayne Isaako, who gave the home fans in Brisbane a grandstand finish.
Isaako could have pushed the game to golden-point after the two late tries from the Dolphins, but the star winger missed both conversions from wide out.
The victory for the Knights may have come at a price however, with prop Jacob Saifiti forced from the field with a potential Achilles injury.
“He knows it’s bad,” Voss said.
“A milestone game has ended in the worst possible way for him. Let’s hope it’s not on the extra serious side.”
On a more positive note, the performance of David Armstrong in his NRL debut earned high praise, with the fullback making two linebreaks, running for 180 metres and scoring the opening try for Newcastle.
The 23-year-old was admirable in his first taste of the top grade and will likely remain in the No.1 jumper for the foreseeable future as Ponga remains sidelined.
