The Broncos will aim to move into the top-four when they play the Sharks, followed by North Queensland vs St George Illawarra.
Those games follow a great contest in Canberra, where the Raiders took a 10-point lead over the Knights before the visitors ran them down in the second half to take top spot.
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Raiders take early lead, get run down by Knights at home
Newcastle Knights have again proven their ability to mount successful comebacks, coming from 10 points down to beat the Canberra Raiders in a top-four clash in the nation’s capital.
The Knights’ 20-12 win put them top of the table, at least for now ahead of the Roosters’ match against Parramatta on Sunday afternoon.
The contest was fierce from the start, with the visitors trying to clinch a fifth successive victory, while the Raiders went into the game unbeaten at Canberra Stadium.
The Raiders had several chances, where they were attacking the Knights’ line, but they couldn’t get through.
Raiders players were held up or stopped short on a couple of occasions.
It took until the 23rd minute for one of the sides to make a breakthrough. Canberra attacked up the middle, before spinning the ball to the left.
Halfback Ashleigh Quinlan then provided the killer looping pass over the top for Madison Bartlett, who sprinted for the corner and got the ball down.
Zahara Temara missed the difficult conversion.
The Knights could not get on the board, and then with just over three minutes left in the half Canberra struck again with a brilliant try. Mackenzie Wiki ran at the defence, then went around the line to the right and sprinted 40m downfield before being stopped.
The ball was spread wide to the left and this time it went to Bartlett who was tackled, but got a pass to centre Cheyelle Robins-Reti who ran forward and then slipped a pass back to Bartlett who scored her second of the game from close range.
Temara added the extras to make it 10-0 at the break.
The Knights began the second stanza on the attack, and they earned their reward five minutes in.
Hannah Southwell was stopped five metres out, then the ball was spread to the left, and Caitlan Johnston threw a long pass to five-eighth Georgia Roche, who ran and then spun back to evade tacklers before dropping to ground the ball.
It was 10-6 after the conversion, but the Raiders quickly replied, forcing a line drop-out after the kickoff went through the Knights in-goal. A penalty for a time violation followed, and the Raiders took the points through Temara.
Things turned against the home side, with a HIA taking Wiki off for 15 minutes, and then Newcastle burst through the Raiders’ defence with a great break from Tameka Upton, setting up a try on the right to Sheridan Gallagher.
The try was converted, levelling it up at 12-12 with just under 20 minutes left.
The Raiders defence was under huge pressure, and the Knights were in again less than 90 seconds later, with Southwell stepping and then barging over from a few metres out to put Newcastle ahead for the first time.
She converted her own try to make it 18-12, and the Knights extended the lead with a penalty in the 25th minute.
The Raiders tried hard to bounce back, but they couldn’t get on the scoreboard and the Knights sealed a sixth win of the season.
Compounding the Raiders’ home loss, inspirational co-captain Simaima Taufa appeared to injure her right shoulder attempting a tackle in the second half.
She managed to play through the pain despite reeling out of the contact in significant pain, clutching the same shoulder she hurt during the grand final of the NSWRL Women’s Premiership in May.
Canberra cannot afford to lose middle forward Taufa as they fight to overcome an inferior points differential and lock up a finals berth in their inaugural season.
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