Dominic Young scored a hat-trick to help a Newcastle side missing roughly $3 million worth of talent end Canterbury’s unbeaten start to the NRL season in a 24-16 win.
The gifted winger grabbed his third career treble as the Knights raced out to a 16-0 half-time lead and then staved off a second-half Bulldogs fightback at Accor Stadium on Saturday 28 March.
Newcastle’s victory was its first this season without the injured star duo of fullback Kalyn Ponga and five-eighth Dylan Brown, while starting prop Trey Mooney was also suspended.
Last year’s wooden spooners, the Knights boast a 3-1 record under new coach Justin Holbrook in what represents their best start to a season since 2020.
The loss will be a wake-up call for Canterbury (2-1), who was way off the pace in the first half and could be without Viliame Kikau, Lachlan Galvin (both hip-drop tackles) and Max King (crusher), all placed on report, for Good Friday’s meeting with South Sydney.
The Dogs did the hard part early with King and Marcelo Montoya both crossing the line but failing to ground the ball in the opening 20 minutes.
Young put the Knights ahead in the sixth by burning Connor Tracey and Newcastle was then forced to tough it out when Dylan Lucas was sin-binned for a professional foul.
They survived the period and then put together a sustained spell of pressure as they forced five goal-line drop-outs.
The injection of Harrison Graham gave the Knights a new dimension and, soon after, the interchange hooker was thrown on, the Dogs’ resolve cracked as Tyson Frizell strolled over under the sticks in the 33rd minute.
As interval neared, an error from Galvin gave Newcastle one last shot at the Bulldogs line with Lucas touching down off a Fletcher Sharpe pass to give Holbrook’s men a 16-0 lead.
The hosts began the second period with much greater purpose with Burton grabbing a double in the space of seven minutes to bring Cameron Ciraldo’s side back into contention.
As they chased a third, Galvin again came up with an error.
On the next set, Sandon Smith made a break down the right that allowed Young to secure his second.
The English Test star then intercepted a Tracey pass and ran 70m to complete his hat-trick.
Jacob Kiraz grabbed one back for the Dogs but when Stephen Crichton missed the conversion, the Knights’ eight-point buffer proved too much to overcome.
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