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The Newcastle Knights enter the 2024 NRL season as one of the most exciting prospects in the league. Led by captain and superstar fullback Kalyn Ponga, with the additions of Jack Cogger and Kai Pearce-Paul to go with the development of forwards Dylan Lucas, Leo Thompson and Phoenix Crossland, will the Knights be able to improve on their 2023 season?
Let’s see where they sit with the bookies in the latest NRL outright betting markets.
Established: | 1987 |
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Home ground: | McDonald Jones Stadium |
Coach: | Adam O’Brien |
Captain: | Kalyn Ponga |
Premierships: | Two – 1997, 2001 |
2024 ladder finish: | Eighth (12-0-12) – knocked out Finals Week 1 |
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2024 Premiership | |
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Odds @ BetOnline | – |
There are dozens of NRL futures markets for Newcastle, but where are they likely to return some real value?
Click on the tabs below to get more analysis on these markets:
Round | Opponent | Venue | Date | Time (NSW) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Canberra Raiders | McDonald Jones Stadium | Thursday, March 7 | 8:00pm |
2 | North Queensland Cowboys | Queensland Country Bank Stadium | Saturday, March 16 | 5:30pm |
3 | Melbourne Storm | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, March 24 | 6:15pm |
4 | New Zealand Warriors | Go Media Stadium | Sunday, March 31 | 6:05pm |
5 | St George Illawarra Dragons | McDonald Jones Stadium | Friday, April 5 | 8:05pm |
6 | Sydney Roosters | McDonald Jones Stadium | Thursday, April 11 | 7:50pm |
7 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Accor Stadium | Sunday, April 21 | 2:00pm |
8 | Dolphins | Suncorp Stadium | Sunday, April 28 | 2:00pm |
9 | New Zealand Warriors | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, May 5 | 2:00pm |
10 | Wests Tigers | Scully Park | Saturday, May 11 | 3:00pm |
11 | Gold Coast Titans | Suncorp Stadium | Saturday, May 18 | 3:00pm |
12 | BYE | – | – | – |
13 | Canterbury Bulldogs | McDonald Jones Stadium | Friday, May 31 | 8:00pm |
14 | Melbourne Storm | AAMI Park | Sunday, June 9 | 2:00pm |
15 | Penrith Panthers | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, June 16 | 4:05pm |
16 | BYE | – | – | – |
17 | Parramatta Eels | McDonald Jones Stadium | Saturday, June 29 | 5:30pm |
18 | Canberra Raiders | GIO Stadium | Sunday, July 7 | 4:05pm |
19 | Manly Sea Eagles | 4 Pines Park | Sunday, July 14 | 4:05pm |
20 | Brisbane Broncos | McDonald Jones Stadium | Saturday, July 20 | 5:30pm |
21 | BYE | – | – | – |
22 | Penrith Panthers | BlueBet Stadium | Sunday, August 4 | 2:00pm |
23 | Wests Tigers | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, August 11 | 4:05pm |
24 | Cronulla Sharks | PointsBet Stadium | Sunday, August 18 | 4:05pm |
25 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Accor Stadium | Saturday, August 24 | 7:35pm |
26 | Gold Coast Titans | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, September 1 | 2:00pm |
27 | Dolphins | McDonald Jones Stadium | Sunday, September 8 | 4:05pm |
Born: 30/3/1998
Games: 117
Tries: 51
Position: Fullback
The start of the 2023 season for Kalyn Ponga was heavily disrupted by multiple concussion issues, to the point where medical retirement was a concern for the young fullback. However, round 15 of the season began an incredible run of form by the fullback that saw the Knights win 10 of 14 games and progress to the latest stage of the NRL finals the club has played in for years. This season, if Ponga can stay fully fit at fullback, there’s no knowing where this club could finish.
Born: 9/8/2001
Games: 70
Tries: 30
Position: Centre
Bradman Best had a relative breakout season in 2023 where he scored more tries, recorded more try assists, and line breaks than any other season in the NRL. His strong form earnt him representative honours for the New South Wales Blues where he showed he is a long-term option for his state in the centres. In 2024, clubs will be targeting Best more when he is carrying the ball. With that being said, the 22-year-old is strong enough to absorb any extra pressure and succeed at the highest levels.
Born: 9/7/2000
Games: 7
Tries: 2
Position: 2nd Row
When Lachlan Fitzgibbon announced he was leaving the club, Dylan Lucas stepped up incredibly in the second-row position for the Knights and will now battle it out with English import Kai Pearce-Paul to earn the starting back-row role. Lucas played most of his football in the lower leagues in the centres and on the wing, before developing physically into a modern-day, dynamic edge forward. Should he continue his development and earn the starting spot on the edge for the Knights, he will become a brilliant point of difference in attack.
Although Sydneysiders regarded it as a second-rate competition, the Newcastle Rugby League soon became one of Australia’s strongest regional sporting divisions. It fielded a number of successful representative teams throughout the 20th century, several of which were good enough to beat touring sides from interstate and overseas. League legends Clive Churchill, John Sattler, Les Johns and Johnny Graves all played in Newcastle, while NSW and Kangaroos hero Wally Prigg spent his entire club career there.
As the NSWRL began to expand in the 1960s, talk arose of a new team based in the Hunter Region. However, clubs and league administrators in Newcastle worried that such a move would diminish the value and status of their own competition. They declined an invitation to enter a side in the NSWRL in 1982, which led to the foundation of the Canberra Raiders instead.
It was a different story a few years later when nationwide expansion became inevitable. In 1988, the Newcastle Knights joined the Sydney first-grade competition along with the Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. The team was an instant hit with rugby league fans in country NSW and took only three seasons to reach the playoffs.
The Knights’ popularity was highlighted during and after the Super League wars of the mid-1990s, when the rival Hunter Mariners franchise came and went within a matter of years. It helped that Newcastle won the Australian Rugby League title in 1997 with the assistance of a handy little footballer by the name of Andrew Johns, who would go on to win three Dally M Player of the Year awards.
The red and blue have endured a few ups and downs since those heady days. A drugs scandal tarnished their success of the late ’90s, while the city as a whole fell on hard times after the closure of the BHP Steelworks. Even the 2011 signing of Queensland super-coach Wayne Bennett could not inspire the Knights to glory. Three wooden spoons later, the only way is up for Newcastle.
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