NEWCASTLE received the perfect confidence boost with a 44-0 win against Canberra at Seiffert Oval on Saturday in their only top-grade trial match before the 2017 season kicks off.
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Playing against a Raiders team who had a host of big names watching from the stand, the Knights racked up a 30-0 lead by half-time.
Back-rower Sione Mata’utia scored twice, while hooker Danny Levi, new recruit Jamie Buhrer and skipper Trent Hodkinson also crossed the stripe before half-time.
Hodkinson kicked all five of his conversion attempts.
Knights coach Nathan Brown gave a host of his fringe players game time after the break, and they had to wait 18 minutes to increase their lead, with a try in the corner by Brendan Elliot.
Chanel Mata’utia, returning from a knee injury, dived over in the 66th minute, then former Parramatta winger Ken Sio scored in the corner a few minutes from full-time.
It was a welcome result for the two-time wooden spooners, who won only one game in 2016 and finished the season with a club-record 18-game losing streak.
The only concern for Newcastle, who played the Warriors in Auckland in round one, was a possible knee injury to Buhrer.
Knights fullback Dylan Phythian was also replaced in the second half after a heavy collision.
Newcastle played the last eight minutes with 12 men after bench forward Lachlan Fitzgibbon was sin-binned for his role in a minor melee.
Canberra fielded established stars Josh Hodgson, Shannon Boyd, Elliott Whitehead and Junior Paulo among a predominantly second-string team.
