Sunday second NRL Round 4 match is between Newcastle Knights and Cronulla Sharks with the opening kick to commence at 15:00pm. 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 Cronulla Sharks.

WHERE AND WHEN: 15:00 | Sunday 30/03/2014 @ Hunter Stadium

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Odds Comparison:

Newcastle Knights	1.48	1.50	1.50	1.50	1.48	1.50
Cronulla Sharks	2.70	2.65	2.65	2.65	2.70	2.65

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

Preview:

It wasn’t the best off-season for either of these clubs nor has it been a good start to the regular season with both sides still looking for their first win of 2014.

Although they’ve been beaten by Panthers, Canberra and last week Storm, the effort by the Knights given their depleted line-up due to injury in these games, has been very commendable.

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They were beaten on the buzzer by Canberra a fortnight ago and made the Storm earn their two competition points the hard way. Another injury to Alex McKinnon means another change for the Knights this week but it is the only one. Returning to Hunter Stadium is also a plus as is their record of the Sharks, having won four of the last five with the only defeat coming by a solitary point.

The Sharks also have been a victim of a full casualty ward this year and along with the suspension of star forward Andrew Fifita, haven’t as yet been able to field their strongest line-up.

Five-eighth Todd Carney returned from injury last week and had an immediate and positive impact on the Sharks, given his side some much needed direction that was sorely missing from the previous week that saw them steam-rolled by the Bulldogs 42 – 4.

With Carney backing up from his return last week, and the return of Fifita, the Sharks will consider themselves a good chance of causing an upset here, especially if they are able to reproduce their tough effort from last week that saw them go down narrowly to the in-form Dragons (12 – 14).

Neither side has scored more than 20 points this season and would expect that this too will be a low scoring affair, as the confidence of either team is not running high.

The home-ground and the recent record sway this one in favour of the Knights but expect a game closer then the market would suggest otherwise.

Teams:

Newcastle Knights:
Matt Minto, James McManus, Dane Gagai, Joey Leilua, Akuila Uate, Michael Dobson, Tyrone Roberts, Kade Snowden, Kurt Gidley (c), Wille Mason, Beau Scott, Robbie Rochow, Jeremy Smith. Interchange: Adam Clydsdale, Korbin Sims, David Fa’alogo, Adam Cuthbertson
Ins: Korbin Sims
Outs: Alex McKinnon (fractured neck, season)
Other unavailables: Darius Boyd (hamstring, round five), Jarrod Mullen (hamstring, round 10), Clint Newton (bicep, season), Timana Tahu (knee, round 10)

Cronulla Sharks:
Michael Gordon, Nathan Stapleton, Blake Ayshford, Ricky Leutele, Jonathan Wright, Todd Carney, Daniel Holdsworth, Andrew Fifita, John Morris, Sam Tagataese, Matt Prior, Wade Graham (c), Chris Heighington. Interchange: Isaac De Gois, Tinirau Arona, Bryce Gibbs, Siosaia Vave, Tupou Sopoaga
Ins: Nathan Stapleton, Andrew Fifita
Outs: Sosaia Feki (knee, round eight)
Other unavailables: Paul Gallen (ankle, round seven), Luke Lewis (shoulder/radiation treatment, round seven), Anthony Tupou (knee, mid-season), Jeff Robson (facial fractures, indefinite), Beau Ryan (neck, indefinite)

News:

Cronulla enforcer Andrew Fifita says it’s impossible not to feel for the Newcastle Knights, but has challenged the struggling Sharks to match their emotion in Sunday’s bottom-of-the-table NRL match at Hunter Stadium.

In a clash between the only two winless teams in the competition, the Sharks are on a hiding to nothing with all the sentiment for Newcastle in the wake of Alex McKinnon’s shocking injury on Monday night.

The 22-year-old back-rower is in a critical but stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after being placed in an induced coma following emergency spinal surgery to repair two fractured vertebrae and have a disc removed.

McKinnon’s No.16 jumper has been retired for the rest of the season by the club, and his name will be embroidered on the front of the NRL side’s shirts.

A huge crowd is expected, with representatives from McKinnon’s junior club to form a guard of honour for the players when they run on to the field.

“My motivation is to get the win for the club and for Alex and to get this week over with,” Knights forward Jeremy Smith told Triple M on Saturday.

“It has been tough. But the team’s coping pretty well – we know we’ve got a job to do this weekend and we’ll definitely be going out there with him on the back of our minds.

“He’s just a champion bloke. He’d do anything for you, Alex.”

Smith, a one-time captain at Cronulla, knows the last-placed Sharks “have got everything to play for as well”.

Fifita acknowledged as much.

“If it was someone in our team, I would want to dedicate the season to them,” Fifita told AAP.

“I’d be thriving off it, using it as motivation.

“So they’re going to come out with a lot of emotion and we’ve just got to match that.”

Fifita said he personally had added incentive to perform in his return from a two-match suspension for a round-one shoulder charge.

During his layoff, the Test prop announced he was leaving Cronulla for the Bulldogs next season and has come under fire from disgruntled Sharks fans.

“It’s been two long weeks and everything that’s happened outside of football – and the Sharks are desperate for a win and Newcastle are desperate for a win,” Fifita said.

“They’re going to be coming out firing because of everything that’s happening with Alex McKinnon and how they’re zero and three.

“But then again we’re zero and three and I’ve got a point to prove and I’m going to try to use that as motivation to get that go-forward for my players and earn the respect from the fans and the players around me.”