Sunday second NRL Round 2 match is between Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders with the opening kick to commence at 6:30pm. 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 Canberra Raiders.

WHERE AND WHEN: Hunter Stadium, Sunday 16 March 2014, 6:30pm

Odds Comparison:

Newcastle Knights	1.53	1.53	1.55	1.53	1.53	1.55
Canberra Raiders	2.55	2.55	2.50	2.55	2.55	2.45

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

Preview:

The Knights were keen to put a disastrous off season behind them in their first round against Penrith, and for the first ten minutes at least, things were looking up.

The Knights led early through a try to second-rower Beau Scott but things only went downhill from there.

A run of injuries including a concussion to Captain Kurt Gidley and Tyrone Roberts, along with a hamstring tear to fullback Darius Boyd, saw the Knights down to only one player on the reserves bench and helpless to stop the panthers running in four unanswered second half tries.

The final score-line was 30 – 8 which, when all things considered, didn’t honestly reflect the effort of the Knights

The Raiders stepped out against North Queensland in round 1 and for the first time under Coach Ricky Stuart.
Stuart would’ve been pleased with what he saw from his troops early in the match as the Raiders raced to a 16 – 0 at the 27 minute mark with tries to Lee, Croker and Papalii, but two long distant tries to the Cowboys saw that lead diminish to 16 – 10 at the break.

Whilst competitive, the Raiders had no answer to the Cowboys’ Johnathan Thurston who directed his side to three more tries in the second half and ultimately a 28 – 22 win.

As was the case last year, the Raiders played in patches and will need to produce a full 80 minute effort if they are going to win their way into this year’s finals. They certainly have the talent in their roster to do so

The two sides met twice last year, with each side winning their respective home game. The games produced plenty of points, 40 and 58, and would expect another open affair this weekend.

Kidley and Roberts are expected to play this week for the Knights which Gidley moving from hooker to fullback to cover for the injured Darius Boyd. Travis Waddell will play hooker.
The Raiders remain unchanged from last week. It’s two tough rough trips to start the season for the Raiders, Nth Queensland and now Newcastle, but if the can manage to put a full 80 minute effort together, may give this a shake against a Newcastle side whose preparation and past three months, have been far from perfect.

Teams:

Newcastle Knights:

1. Kurt Gidley 2. James McManus 3. Dane Gagai 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Akuila Uate 6. Michael Dobson 7. Tyrone Roberts 8. Kade Snowden 9. Travis Waddell 10. Willie Mason 11. Beau Scott 12. Robbie Rochow 13. Jeremy Smith 14. Alex McKinnon 15. Chris Houston 16. David Fa’alogo 17. Adam Cuthbertson 18. Matt Minto 19. Jake Mamo

Canberra Raiders:

1. Anthony Milford 2. Reece Robinson 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Matthew Allwood 5. Edrick Lee 6. Jack Wighton 7. Terry Campese 8. Dane Tilse 9. Glen Buttriss 10. Brett White 11. Josh Papalii 12. Joel Edwards 13. Shaun Fensom 14. Josh McCrone 15. Jarrad Kennedy 16. Paul Vaughan 17. Shannon Boyd

News:

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary is confident his new-look side will get better as the season progresses after opening their NRL campaign with a 30-8 win over Newcastle on Saturday.

The Panthers produced an emphatic second-half display at Sportingbet Stadium, scoring 24 unanswered points against a Knights side badly hindered by injuries to hooker Kurt Gidley, fullback Darius Boyd and halfback Tyrone Roberts.

All three were forced out of the game with Knights coach Wayne Bennett fearing Boyd could potentially face up to three weeks on the sidelines after tearing his hamstring in the first half.

Skipper Gidley left the field with concussion at halftime as did Roberts 20 minutes from time leaving the visitors with a makeshift spine for most of the game.

Despite facing patched up opponents, Cleary said he was delighted with the focus shown by his players with new boys Peter Wallace, Elijah Taylor and Jamie Soward all enjoying encouraging debuts.

“The start of the game wasn’t like round one – both teams were pretty accurate,” Cleary said.

“It was really to and fro that first 20 minutes and it took a lot out of everyone. Our attack was a bit clumsy in the first half and that was because the boys were out on their feet a bit.

“But in the second, it was much better and the points seemed to come for us.

“They had some bad luck with injuries … but we are very happy to get through that and get a win.

“It was a good, tough win but we had a few new faces and that is going to take time.”

Two tries from Josh Mansour and four-pointers from Adam Docker and debutants Taylor and Jeremy Latimore sealed the win for the hosts.

But Cleary was bemused by the decision to chalk off a first-half try from Wallace for a pull on Gidley’s shirt in the build-up.

Wallace crossed the line following a Lewis Brown offload but the video referee overruled the on-field officials after footage showed a tug on Gidley by the back-rower.

“That’s been going on since the game started,” Cleary said.

“I thought it was a really tough call to take the try away.”

Bennett admitted there wasn’t much his side could do in the second half with so many players and the interchange bench just down to one body and praised his side’s efforts.

“We had two with concussion, one with a hamstring. These situations happen and you can’t really plan for them,” Bennett said.

“We had guys out of position and it just wasn’t running for us. But I was elated with the effort. They didn’t deserve to get beaten by 30-odd points.”

With key playmaker Jarrod Mullen estimated to be sidelined until about round nine, Bennett is hopeful Boyd’s injury won’t be too serious but is not expecting him to play next week against Canberra at Hunter Stadium.

“Hamstrings are always hard. It could be a week; it could be two or three,” he said.

“It will certainly be more than a week, you would assume. There is a tear in there somewhere.

“With the concussions, Kurt is still not good at the moment and will be touch and go; Tyrone is starting to come good.”