GOOD teams don’t just win at home.
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A simple message from Knights coach Nathan Brown to his players, but apparently a highly effective one judging by Sunday’s 30-28 triumph against Canberra at GIO Stadium.
After their season-opening 19-18 win at home to Manly, Brown challenged his troops to follow it up with an equally emphatic performance.
The result was Newcastle’s first win in Canberra since 2014 and only their sixth in 27 visits to the national capital.
“You won’t be a very good side if you only win at home,” Knights skipper Mitchell Pearce said.
“Browny spoke to us this week about backing up what we did last week. If we want to be a good side, we’ve got to back up and play well, week in, week out.
“Browny gave us the talk about that at the start of the week, and we found a way to win tonight. We’ve got a lot of improvement still, but it was a real positive.”
Brown said back-to-back wins “give you belief and trust and confidence”, especially in a team who are rebuilding after collecting the past three wooden spoons.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has now watched his team lose their first two games of the season by the same scoreline, after their round-one defeat against the Gold Coast.
On both occasions, they let handy leads slip.
“A hundred per cent, we’ll turn it around,” Stuart said.
“It’s not all about next week. Every game’s a really important game, obviously. It’s not about next week.
“It’s about making sure we don’t lose all the effort and desire that’s there. It’s just not happening for us at the moment. There’s little pieces of play that aren’t going our way.”
A try by centre Sione Mata'utia in the 74th minute clinched the points for the Knights after a seesawing contest.
The two teams finished locked at 14-all after an absorbing first half.
Newcastle held the lead three times before the break, but each time the Raiders pegged them back.
Canberra grabbed the momentum early in the second half after a glut of penalties.
Eventually Newcastle cracked when heavyweight prop Junior Paulo off-loaded in traffic and Elliott Whitehead strolled over in the 45th minute for his second try of the night.
The Green Machine's lead lasted just four minutes.
Fullback Kalyn Ponga, who created a first-half try for back-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon, was again the provider, opening up a yawning gap for centre Tautau Moga to score his first four-pointer in Newcastle's colours.
Ponga then converted to make it 20-all.
Newcastle appeared to have regained the lead in the 53rd minute, only for the video referee to correctly rule five-eighth Connor Watson knocked on after winning the race to an in-field kick.
The Knights conceded another penalty in the 56th minute, in front of their posts, allowing Canberra skipper Croker to kick his team two points clear.
When Croker dived over to score after a Blake Austin break, and then converted his own try, Newcastle were left facing an eight-point deficit with 17 minutes to play.
But the Knights hit back in the 65th minute when winger Nathan Ross grubber-kicked in-field and Watson won the race to ground it.
Ponga's conversion made it a two-point ball game.
Newcastle surged back into the lead when Mata'utia scored in the 74th minute.
Both teams lost key players to injury in the early exchanges.
Knights lock Mitch Barnett was taken off after a sixth-minute head knock, then Raiders centre Joey Leilua needed the medicab to leave the field after suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury.
Neither was able to return.