Francis Manuleleua, in just his 15th NRL game after debuting earlier this year, has scored the first try of the 2026 NRL Grand Final for the Newcastle Knights against the Sydney Roosters.
Just over a month back from a dislocated elbow, Manulelua would burst through the line on the left-hand side off a short ball from Knights' five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe.
The Roosters had all the running of the game early on, but cracked at the first virtual first time of asking in defence as the Knights registered the first points just over a quarter of an hour into the contest.
The Knights' attacking raid came after plenty of Roosters ones they had turned away, with a controversial penalty then turning the momentum of the game as Lindsay Collins was ruled to have made high contact on Mat Croker with the Knights bringing it out of their own end.
