- Canterbury made two points clearly at the top of the LNR scale this weekend
- Newcastle suffered his second defeat on the rebound, after losing 20-0
Newcastle Knights star Phoenix Crossland was sent to Sin bac during the Sunday match against Canterbury for a bizarre trip to the half-back of Bulldog Toby Sexton.
Canterbury takes advantage of his best start for an LNR season in more than 30 years after going through a Newcastle outfit exhausted to win a 20-0 victory.
The second half’s trials of Josh Curran, Jack Todd and Kurt Mann brought the Bulldogs to the house at the Accor stadium on Sunday where an impressive crowd of 24,113 was on site to attend the “GO 5-0 dogs to start the season.
Not since 1993, a year in which they won Minor Minister Have Canterbury began a season so strongly.
But there was more misery for the knights, who, despite their solid start to the 2025 campaign, are without victory in their last two games.
Crossland, meanwhile, could face an additional sanction after seeming to trip at Sexton.
The Bulldogs Phoenix Crossland star was sent to the sin-good for trying to trip the half-back of Canterbury Toby Sexton
The incident took place in the 45th minute of the match with Crossland pushing his leg in order to stop the Sexton advanced.
The incident took place in the 45th minute of the match with Crossland pushing his leg in order to stop the Sexton in advance.
Referee Ashley Klein immediately managed to go to the offense and showed crossland his walking orders while placing him on the report.
“You can’t challenge this,” Cooper Cronk told Fox League.
“It’s a blatant journey and Adam O’Brien knows it. Good call there from Ashley Klein.
Toby Rudolf des Sharks notably received a ban on a match at the end of the 2024 season.
He came after he seemed to trip the captain of Penrith Isaah Yeo during their preliminary final confrontation last year. He had been accused of dangerous 2nd year contact for a seventh minute trip of this confrontation after submitting an early plea.
Canterbury, clear at the top of the table by two points, will benefit from a Bye before a shock from Friday of Saint-Saint with South Sydney in which the five-eighth Matt Burton and Barnstorming Back-Rower Viliame Kikau should both come back.
Many would have expected the Bulldogs to support a dive when Burton and Kikau have drink their confrontation of the round Two with Gold Coast, but it was on their credit that they barely missed a beat.
A second half’s trial of Jack Todd (right) helped the bulldogs to cross the line on Sunday
Kurt Mann has also gone through whitening to help Canterbury keep their start that is undefeated for the season
This did not help Newcastle hopes to end the undefeated beginning of Canterbury that they lost two men in the first two minutes.
The winger James Schiller failed an assessment of the head injuries after a head confrontation with the Bulldogs, Daniel Suluka-Fifita, the Knights, Knights accessories, Jacob Saifiti, drink 30 seconds later with a suspected veal injury.
He left Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien with only 15 form in shape to see the next 78 minutes.
But what they lacked with fluidity, they compensated in the mind and effort with Bradman, which leads the charge in a back and forth battle with the captain of Canterbury, Stephen Crichton.
There was a collective drop when Crichton lengthened for treatment for a shoulder injury in the middle of the first half, but after a long delay, the Bulldogs skipper was back.
The penalty objective of the fourth minute of Crichton – the result of an illegal strip of Tyson Frizell on Max King – was all that separated the two sides at the interval.
It took until the 42nd minute for Canterbury to find a path with Jacob Kiraz hitting a Sexton kick, which Curran tapped to finish.
Shortly after Newcastle Hooker Crossland was sining for a trip, the interchange Todd propeller caught its first LNR test by hitting a short line against a retirement defense.
To add to the misfortunes of the Knights, the propeller Jack Hetherington succumbed to a shoulder injury and although they hung on in the fight, the neckline of the 70th minute of Mann in his 200th LNR game condemned them to defeat.
