Friday second NRL Round 7 match is between Newcastle Knights and Brisbane Broncos with the opening kick to commence at 19:40 local time. The game is to be played at Hunter Stadium which see’s home team Newcastle Knights hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Newcastle Knights and Brisbane Broncos.

WHERE AND WHEN: Hunter Stadium, Friday 7.40pm (AEST)

Odds Comparison:

Newcastle Knights	1.77	1.67	1.73	1.67	1.77	1.70
Brisbane Broncos	2.10	2.25	2.15	2.25	2.10	2.15

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Preview:

The Knights bounced back after a poor Monday night loss to the Cowboys in round 5, with a 26 – 12 win over the unpredictable Canberra Raiders last week.

It was the second leg of a tough road trip for the Knights who would’ve have been pleased with their improved effort and will now be looking forward to playing this game at home, only their third for the season.

The scores were locked 12 all at halftime and the game in the balance last week but Newcastle, with the inclusion of five-eight Jarrod Mullen who was playing his first game this season, used the ball and possession in a more efficient manner than their opponents in the second half, scoring two further tries whilst keeping their opponents scoreless.

Mullen will be much better for the outing and the return home, where Newcastle have comfortably defeated Cronulla and were beaten on the buzzer by Canberra in their two games this season, will see an improved effort again but it will have to be as the take on the Broncos.

Brisbane faced-up against competition leaders Gold Coast Titans last week at Skilled Stadium.

It was a real arm-wrestle and a tightly contested match that, at the 60th mark, saw the Broncos in front 8 – 4 and on the attack however, the game swung dramatically at that point.

Titans fullback David Mead swooped up a grubber kick on his own line and proceeded to run 95 metres to score. The subsequent conversion saw the Titans in front and with the home-crowd behind them, all the momentum for the final 15 minutes of the game.

A further try to man-of-the-match and Gold Coast five-eight Aidan Sezer in the 73^rd minutes sealed the game and handed the Broncos their third defeat in the past four weeks.

The Broncos didn’t do much wrong last week or in any of their three losses this year (which been by 4, 7 and 4 points) however, they have seen the Broncos slide to seventh spot on the ladder and with Souths in round 8, followed by the Cowboys in Townsville in round 9, they cannot afford another one here.

The two sides met twice last year for a draw and a 26 – 18 win to the Knigths however, Brisbane are going better this year than 2012 and haven’t lost in their last three appearances at Hunter Stadium.

Newcastle will lift here for their Coach Wayne Bennett as they come up against his old side and will give a spirited performance but the Broncos have been the more consistent side this year and should sneak home in this one.

Teams:

Newcastle Knights:

1. Darius Boyd, 2. James McManus, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Joey Leilua, 5. Josh Mantellato, 6. Jarrod Mullen, 7. Tyrone Roberts, 8. Kade Snowden, 9. Kurt Gidley (c), 10. Willie Mason, 11. Beau Scott, 12. Chris Houston, 13. Jeremy Smith Interchange: 14. Adam Clydsdale, 15. Korbin Sims, 16. Robbie Rochow, 17. Zane Tetevano

Brisbane Broncos:

1 Ben Barba, 2 Daniel Vidot, 3 Jack Reed, 4 Justin Hodges (c), 5 Dale Copley, 6 Josh Hoffman, 7 Ben Hunt, 8 Josh McGuire, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Corey Parker (c), 11 Alex Glenn , 12 Sam Thaiday, 13 Matt Gillett
Interchange: 14 Martin Kennedy, 15 Todd Lowrie, 16 Ben Hannant, 17 Corey Oates, 18 Jarrod Wallace

News:

Tough Newcastle back-rower Beau Scott says the Knights have remembered how to grind out wins ahead of Friday’s round seven NRL clash with Brisbane.

Newcastle put in a typically gritty performance in their 26-12 away win over Canberra last weekend with Scott starring.

With regular halfback Jarrod Mullen and fullback Darius Boyd back in the side, Scott says the Newcastle forwards are starting to hold up their end after the Knights secured just their second win of the season against Canberra.

“We have had a real slow start to the year if you want to call it that and to get the two points last week was pretty much a necessity,” he told AAP.

“It was almost a must win last week, we need to go on from that against the Broncos.

“We know how to win games, we just have to prove it to ourselves to get it across the line.

“We have got some confidence out of last week.

“We have got some very talented outside back especially with Dane Gagai and Joey Leilua, we just have to complete the sets up the middle to give them a chance.

“Jarrod brings the structure back to the game, and we have to get on the back of that.

“Silly penalties and errors have been costing us and we need to stop that.

“We have been competing hard and week-in week-out we have been having a god but giving away soft penalties and soft tries (has hurt us).

“We stopped that against the Raiders and need to keep doing that consistently and the Broncos will be a test of that.”

After the win over Canberra, Knights coach Wayne Bennett rated Scott as the form forward of the NRL.

“I don’t know about that, I think he is going a bit too far, I’m just looking to compete every week,” Scott said.

“I’m just happy to play good footy with the Knights and win a few games.

“But we need to keep backing it up.”