Cowboys youngster Jaxon Purdue has emerged as the frontrunner to partner Tom Dearden in Las Vegas after being named at five-eighth for the side\u2019s opening Witzer Pre-Season Challenge match.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old will combine with Jake Clifford in the halves against the Bulldogs on Saturday night as he looks to continue his development as a playmaker.<\/p>\n
Purdue split his time between five-eighth and centre last season but there are hopes his long-term future lies in the halves alongside Dearden.<\/p>\n
North Queensland will open their season against the Knights at Allegiant Stadium on February 28.<\/p>\n
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Morgan: It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity<\/p>\n
Coach Todd Payten has named a deep forward pack for the pre-season clash at Jubilee Oval, with Thomas Mikaele to captain the side.<\/p>\n
Harrison Edwards will join him in the front row, while Heilum Luki and Kai O\u2019Donnell will start in the back row and Sam McIntyre at lock.<\/p>\n
Luki missed the entire 2025 season with an ACL injury and is set for his first appearance since September 2024.<\/p>\n
North Queensland will take on a youthful Canterbury side led by prop Daniel Suluka-Fifita and former Sea Eagle Gordon Chan Kum Tong.<\/p>\n
Aaymon Fitzgibbon, the son of Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon, has been named on the bench, with young halves Alex Conti and Joseph Teaupa handed an early chance to impress.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys clash with Canterbury will be followed by a battle between St George Illawarra and Newcastle.<\/p>\n
Knights playmakers Sandon Smith and Fletcher Sharpe will start in the halves in a shootout to partner Dylan Brown in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
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Las Vegas tactics: Knights<\/p>\n
Smith will make his first appearance for the Knights after joining from the Roosters in the off-season, while Sharpe is preparing for his first match since suffering serious kidney and spleen injuries in Round 16 last year. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The duo have been locked in a battle for the right to team up with Brown for much of the summer, with coach Justin Holbrook placing a heavy emphasis on performances during the Pre-Season Challenge.<\/p>\n
Former Raider Trey Mooney will line up for his first game as a Knight, while Pasami Saulo is also back in a Newcastle jumper after three years in Canberra.<\/p>\n
Emerging talent Jermaine McEwen will start in the second row, with promising hooker Harrison Graham to wear the No.9 jumper after moving south from the Dolphins.<\/p>\n
The Dragons have also named a mix of youth and experience, with emerging halfback Kade Reed to steer the side in the No.7 jumper alongside five-eighth Lyhkan King-Togia.<\/p>\n
Off-season recruits David Fale (centre) and Setu Tu (wing) have a chance to play their way into the Vegas side, while Josh Kerr will start at prop in his return to St George Illawarra.<\/p>\n
Twins Toby and Ryan Couchman are back on deck, with emerging forward Loko Pasifiki Tonga named on an extended bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cowboys youngster Jaxon Purdue has emerged as the frontrunner to partner Tom Dearden in Las Vegas after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-455505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}