Remarkably, the Raiders and Knights have already clashed in 2013 – just a few weeks ago in Round 4! The Knights dominated their encounter at Hunter Stadium, finishing 28-12 victors – just the second time in the past decade Newcastle have won their opening three matches at Hunter Stadium.
The Knights’ victory came on the back of a superior completion rate (87 per cent to 68 per cent) as well as two fewer errors.
The Knights dominated the key metres-gained category too, with Kade Snowden (192 metres), Darius Boyd (130 metres), Alex McKinnon (120 metres), David Fa’alogo (109 metres) and Adam Cuthbertson (102 metres) all contributing to a fine team performance.
Five-eighth Jarrod Mullen proved instrumental in the victory, setting up a try, making a line-break and creating another in a fine performance for the home side.
For the visitors, centre Blake Ferguson was perhaps the biggest danger with ball in hand, breaking six tackles and running for a total of 161 metres.