Justin Holbrook has his work cut out for him at Newcastle this season, and it could be a grim start if Nine’s panel of expert tipsters are anything to go by.
Not a single expert is backing the lowly Knights to topple North Queensland in the NRL‘s opening game of the season at Allegiant Stadium on Las Vegas on Sunday.
TAB has installed the Cowboys as $1.38 favourites to win the game, giving the Hunter battlers almost no chance to get the chocolates.
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Newcastle finished with the dreaded wooden spoon last year and the Knights attack was once again lifeless, leading to brutal ongoing criticism and eventually the sacking of Adam O’Brien as coach.
Holbrook is the man tasked with turning things around and it all starts on Sunday in front of 40,000 fans.
Even Knights legend Andrew Johns is not backing his beloved team to win the game.
Dylan Brown. Newcastle Knights
The eighth Immortal has serious doubts over the new Knights spine which includes five-eighth Dylan Brown doing the halfback job, which he proved at Parramatta last year is incapable of executing to an NRL standard.
Aside from that, he is joined by Fletcher Sharpe in the halves. Sharpe showed some talent last season but his best position seems to be fullback, which is occupied by the superstar Kalyn Ponga already.
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“My biggest questions: who’s the boss in that spine? And who does both the long and short kicking – especially when they’re on the attack in Vegas, given the smaller field impacts your grubbers and crossfield kicks so much?” Johns wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald this week.
“Winning games in the first month of a season, when everyone is understandably still a little rusty and building match fitness, focuses so much on your kicking, completing at or above 80 per cent, and defensive energy and discipline. That game management is a massive test for Newcastle’s new playmakers.”
The Knights – and Brown – have the chance to silence their doubters with an upset victory on Sunday.
So, too, do the Dragons, who are also being given no chance to beat Canterbury in the second of the Vegas games.
Here’s who the Nine experts are tipping to win in Las Vegas.
Brad Fittler: Cowboys, Bulldogs
Andrew Johns: Cowboys, Bulldogs
Ruan Sims: Cowboys, Bulldogs
Danika Mason: Cowboys, Bulldogs
Peter Psaltis: Cowboys, Bulldogs
The Mole: Cowboys, Bulldogs
Mat Thompson: Cowboys, Bulldogs
David Middleton: Cowboys, Bulldogs