Live: Knights end losing streak in Vegas despite devastating injury to young star

Canterbury prop Sam Hughes gifts the Dragons a penalty goal by ridiculously taking out Clint Gutherson as he chased a Dan Atkinson bomb.

Valentine Holmes slots the goal and the Dragons lead 2-0 after eight minutes.

Canterbury is on the attack and Jacob Kiraz plays the ball on the last but no-one’s there!

Stephen Crichton went back to chase a kick, but there was no dummy half.

Crichton grimaces. That’s on him.

Emre Guler takes the first charge for the Dragons.

The camera finds new Dragons halfback Dan Atkinson, handed the red and white number seven after years as the deputy at Cronulla.

And here come the Bulldogs, with all the expectation and pressure on them.

After completely retooling their side last year to make space for Lachlan Galvin, a full preseason with the new-look team should give us a proper sense of what this team is.

North Queensland coach Todd Payten was at the top of most lists of most under-pressure coaches coming into the season and that performance won’t have helped.

Aside from a couple of moments in that first half, neither the defence nor the attack were really up to scratch.

It seems remarkably similar to last year — moments of attacking brilliance but just not enough mettle to hang on in the contest.

Newcastle has beaten the Cowboys 28-18 for their first win in 253 days, since round 16 last year.

It won’t go down as one of the all-time great victories, but for a team so devoid of reasons to smile, this season-opening win is as sweet as it gets, especially kicking off the Holbrook-Brown era.

The major concern will be the injury to five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe, but the performance of Sandon Smith in his stead says a lot about the importance of the Knights’ recruitment of the utility.

Murray Taulagi gives the Cowboys a slim chance with an intercept, but he’s dragged down by Kalyn Ponga.

And the Knights’ left-side defence shuts down a raid, which should end the match as a contest.

The Cowboys get repeat sets but Reed Mahoney’s set-ending grubber goes dead.

First set against 12 men and the Newcastle Knights score as Dom Young marks a cross-field kick above Jaxon Purdue and pops a pass to Trey Mooney, who’s strong enough to slam the ball down despite Coen Hess hanging off his legs.

Braidon Burns rushes in to shut down Kalyn Ponga, who gets low as he passes, and Burns hits him with a shoulder flush on the jaw.

Ponga is down holding his head but springs back up.

The penalty is blown and Burns is off for an early shower. (Unless there’s golden point extra time)

The Cowboys are on the attack just over halfway and Scott Drinkwater turns a ball under for Braidon Burns, who can’t handle.

The Knights attack from 55 metres out.

They spin it left and Bradman Best forces a pass, but it may be forward and it’s knocked on by Greg Marzhew anyway.

Jake Clifford steps out of a tackle and grubbers through for Murray Taulagi to score a diving try.

There was some question about a potential obstruction by Kai O’Donnell in the lead-up, but the bunker confirms the try and the Cowboys are behind 22-18 with 27 minutes left.

The Cowboys send the kick-off dead on the full, allowing the Knights to go straight on the attack.

Kalyn Ponga freezes the defence in the middle before finding Dylan Brown. He fires a ball to Dane Gagai, who taps on perfectly for Dom Young to go over on the right wing.

Newcastle runs the ball late in the tackle count and go right to left, with a late offload by Tyson Frizell and a lovely inside ball by Sandon Smith unleashing Kalyn Ponga, who streaks into the backfield and sends Bradman Best over for the Knights’ third try.

The Cowboys fullback knocks on as he was clearly distracted by a flying Pasami Saulo and couldn’t handle the bomb.

Good to see, no matter what’s happening and how much the world changes, some things are constant.

Newcastle five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe is walking out of the sheds, but his boots aren’t done up and there’s no strapping on his unstable left knee.

I don’t think he’ll be back though.

You expect it from the Cowboys, but we’re seeing an awful lot of attacking flair from the Knights, who put on one of the worst offensive seasons in NRL history last year.

Both teams are showing off their ability with the ball and finding some avenues through the defence, with the Kalyn Ponga-Dylan Brown combo looking strong in its first 40 minutes of NRL action.

The bad news for Newcastle is the injury to Fletcher Sharpe, which we will keep a close eye on.

The Knights are penalised for a crusher tackle but the real damage was done down low by Tyson Frizell, who hit the leg of Mikaele and left him limping off after his knee twisted in a very ugly position.

The good news for the Cowboys is that fullback Scott Drinkwater is running back on after recovering from a rib issue.

The Cowboys make great metres, starting with Jaxon Purdue and get into the red zone.

They spin it left and Sam McIntyre throws a leftie flick pass to winger Murray Taulagi, who takes a phenomenal one-handed catch behind him and dives over out wide.

Kalyn Ponga came flying in with some knees and Taulagi didn’t appreciate it, standing over him after scoring the try.