The last of NRL Week 1 matches is between Canterbury Bulldogs and Newcastle Knights. The opening kick is set to commence at 4pm local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium. The home team the Canterbury Bulldogs are the current favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between Canterbury Bulldogs and Newcastle Knights.
ANZ Stadium
Sunday 4pm
Canterbury Bulldogs $1.55 vs Newcastle Knights $2.50 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match
Canterbury Bulldogs $1.62 vs Newcastle Knights $2.30 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match
Odds Comparison by NRL Odds:
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| Canterbury Bulldogs | 1.55 | 1.58 | 1.62 | 1.58 | 1.55 | 1.57 |
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Newcastle Knights
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2.50 | 2.45 | 2.30 | 2.45 | 2.50 | 2.40 |
Preview:
The final match of the first week of finals is the second elimination match with Canterbury up against Newcastle.
Canterbury have experienced a hectic season both on the field, off the field and at times, an injury list as long as your arm but, they put enough wins together in the second of the competition to secure 6th spot.
Their opponents walked a finals tight-rope for the past six weeks but managed to win when they needed to and claimed 7th position.
Canterbury travelled to Brisbane last week and in losing 16 – 11, continued a frustrating sequence of win/loss results that has stretched back for five weeks.
Last week’s loss was not the ideal hit-out coming into the finals and the Bulldogs have been, very uncharacteristically, playing in patches.
Coash Hasler free admits that, if they are to venture past the first week of the finals, a significant improvement will be required.
Five-eighth Josh Reynolds is the key for the Bulldogs but he’ll need to be supported by his outside backs, especially the centre pairing of Inu and Lafai if they are to find holes in the big Knights backline.
Newcastle, by winning three of their last five game – the two most recent against sides outside of the eight, scrabbled to a finals berth.
The Knights had a confidence boosting win over the wooden-spooners Parramatta last week 54 – 6.
That was only the second time in the past six matches that they’ve posted a tally greater than 20 points and they’ll need to score more than that here to avoid playing to Canterbury’s strength and being involved in an arm-wrestle.
The Knight’s left-hand side attack is their main weapon and it has been good in recent weeks.
This is where Newcastle will direct most of their attention with fullback Boyd and winger McManus, crossing for a combined tally of 29 tries this season.
Newcastle has won both clashes this year and three of their last four.
Wouldn’t have thought when the markets were posted, that there was as much difference as their respective prices suggested.
Teams:
Canterbury Bulldogs:
Josh Morris, Mitch Brown, Tim Lafai, Krisnan Inu, Sam Perrett, Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson, Aiden Tolman, Michael Ennis, James Graham, Tony Williams, Josh Jackson, Dale Finucane. Interchange: Dene Halatau, Sam Kasiano, Tim Browne, Ben Barba
Newcastle Knights:
Darius Boyd, James McManus, Dane Gagai, Joey Leilua, Akuila Uate, Jarrod Mullen, Tyrone Roberts, David Fa’alogo, Danny Buderus, Willie Mason, Robbie Rochow, Beau Scott, Jeremy Smith. Interchange: Matt Hilder, Chris Houston, Neville Costigan, Alex McKinnon
Bulldogs say they can go all the way
Desperation is the key to NRL success.
That’s the unorthodox proverb for Canterbury players heading into a finals campaign looking to go one better than last year’s grand final berth.
But unlike their minor premiership-winning ways of 2012, it’s do or die for this year’s Bulldogs.
Forced to settle for sixth spot on the ladder, they face Newcastle in an eliminator at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
“Everyone’s going to be desperate,” prop James Graham said on Thursday.
“And Newcastle will be as well so it will probably bring out the best in them.”
Fellow forward Josh Jackson agreed: “We’re definitely playing like it’s our last game, because it potentially could be.
“But we’re more excited than nervous.”
The squad returns to near full-strength after giant forward Sam Kasiano and elusive fullback Ben Barba made their returns from long injury layoffs last week.
“They’ll be good there for us,” Jackson said.
“Benny’s one of those blokes who can tear a game open.”
Canterbury lost both their clashes with Newcastle this season, having copped a 44-8 thumping in May along with an 18-12 defeat in July.
On and off-field tribulations have ensured a less-than-smooth passage to the finals.
Injuries and suspensions ravaged them in the early weeks, while the dramas surrounding 2012 Dally M Player of the Year Ben Barba created distracting headlines.
A mid-season streak of seven wins from eight games propelled them up the ladder, though they lost three of their last five including a shock loss to Brisbane.
Coach Des Hasler was scathing over his squad’s sloppy display against the Broncos during which they completed only 65 per cent of sets, something Graham conceded was an issue.
“(It’s) probably not just this week, probably for a majority of the year to be honest,” Graham said.
“We know we need to improve our ball control and we’re going to have to complete a lot better than what we did (against Brisbane).”
But Graham was determined none of it has dampened belief they can still take home the premiership against the odds.
“On the league table it says that we’re not (the best performed) but I think the belief in this team, without getting too far ahead of ourselves going past this Sunday, we believe there’s no reason why we can’t go all the way.”