Knights' second-half surge sinks Raiders at home

The Knights have ended a six-game losing streak at home after outclassing the Raiders 24-14 on Sunday afternoon.

After trailing 14-8 at half-time Adam O'Brien's side ran in three tries in six minutes to down an error-riddled Raiders at McDonald Jones Stadium. 

The Knights sealed the win with a Tyson Frizell try seconds after Raiders five-eighth Jack Wighton was sin-binned for his second reported offence leaving Ricky Stuart's side lacking direction after already losing their halfback prior to the match. 

Jackson Hastings had the ball on a string in the No. 7 jersey in his first win at Newcastle while recruit Greg Marzhew scored a double on his first game in Newcastle colours.

It was the Raiders who kicked off proceedings when replacement halfback Matt Frawley stamped his authority on the match with a strong carry to put Hudson Young through to score the opening try.

Three errors in five minutes from the Raiders then handed Newcastle field position and some slick ball movement put winger Marzhew through for his first try in red and blue. 

Just six minutes later and the home side struck again after a strong carry from Daniel Saifiti gifted the Knights field position and Hastings lobbed a ball into the arms of centre Bradman Best who carried Matt Timoko over the line to score. Another unsuccessful conversion from Hastings left the Knights with a slim two-point lead.

Come the 17th minute and Wighton produced a piece of individual brilliance, even fooling the cameraman when he dummied inside to prop Josh Papali'i before slicing through Knights defenders to score under the sticks for a 12-8 lead.

On the stroke of half-time, Frawley came up with a big play when he launched a long-range field goal from beyond 40 metres and nailed to give Canberra a 14-8 lead at the break.

It didn't take long for the Knights to blow the game open in the second half with tries to Marzhew and veteran centre Dane Gagai. 

The afternoon took a bad turn for the Raiders when Wighton was sin-binned for high contact after running up out of the line to put kick pressure on Hastings.

Having already lost their halfback earlier in the day, the Raiders were struggling to make inroads in attack during the second stanza.

Capitalising on the extra man, Newcastle stretched out the lead on their home ground when forward Tyson Frizell showed his strength, crashing over the line from close range. New kicker Lachie Miller converted to stretch Newcastle's lead to 24-12.

With Hastings controlling the game at halfback and Miller denying the Raiders any late opportunities from fullback, the Knights held on for their first win in front of their faithful since Round 16 last season.