Team News: Newcastle will have a whopping seven club debutants, with Kalyn Ponga named at five-eighth. Herman Ese’ese is the unlucky man to miss out. Briton Nikora will make his NRL debut at Cronulla in the back-row, with Kurt Capewell filling Luke Lewis’ vacant right edge spot. Blayke Brailey also debuts from the interchange bench, while star signings Josh Morris and Shaun Johnson have both been named.

Prediction: Seven club debutants for Newcastle may make them look clunky together, but let’s not forget that they had eight in the opening round last year – and still won. Newcastle have been the talk of the pre-season, Ponga’s move to the halves and the recruitment of some genuine superstars. Cronulla have been busy as well – snaring internationals Josh Morris and Shaun Johnson, and actually head into this game as somewhat underdogs. But in a packed McDonald Jones Stadium, it’ll be the Knights that get the job done on the back of a strong showing from Mitchell Pearce, although 58% of the ZT community are with the visitors. Knights by 10.

Previous 5 Games

Newcastle

DATE	OPP	RESULT
1/9/18	Dragons	L 14 - 24
26/8/18	Sharks	L 38 - 12
18/8/18	Panthers	W 12 - 20
10/8/18	Warriors	L 20 - 4
3/8/18	Wests Tigers	L 16 - 25

Cronulla

DATE	OPP	RESULT
21/9/18	Storm	L 22 - 6
14/9/18	Panthers	W 21 - 20
8/9/18	Roosters	L 21 - 12
2/9/18	Bulldogs	W 18 - 30
26/8/18	Knights	W 38 - 12