Match Discussion: Round 4 vs Canterbury @ Accor Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park / Wanngal

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2026 - Round 4
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Newcastle Knights
Accor Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park / Wanngal (TICKETS)

Saturday 28 March 2026
Kickoff 3:00pm AEDT.
Live on Fox League, Kayo Sports.

1. Connor Tracey 2. Jacob Kiraz 3. Enari Tuala 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Matt Burton 7. Lachlan Galvin 8. Max King 9. Bailey Hayward 10. Sitili Tupouniua 11. Viliame Kikau 12. Jacob Preston 13. Jaeman Salmon 14. Kurt Mann 15. Josh Curran 16. Lipoi Hopoi 17. Sean O'Sullivan 19. Jonathan Sua 20. Fletcher Baker 21. Logan Spinks 22. Jack Underhill 23. Bronson Xerri

Changes from last match:
Out: Samuel Hughes (front row), Harry Hayes (bench)
In: Lipoi Hopoi (bench), Sean O'Sullivan (bench), Jonathan Sua (bench), Fletcher Baker (bench)
Changes: Sitili Tupouniua (bench to front row)

1. Fletcher Hunt 2. Dominic Young 3. Dane Gagai 4. Bradman Best 5. Greg Marzhew 6. Fletcher Sharpe 7. Sandon Smith 8. Jacob Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Tyson Frizell 11. Dylan Lucas 12. Jermaine McEwen 13. Mathew Croker 14. Thomas Cant 15. Pasami Saulo 16. Cody Hopwood 17. Francis Manuleleua 18. Tyson Gamble 19. Harrison Graham 20. Elijah Leaumoana 21. James Schiller 22. Wilson De Courcey

Changes from last match:
Out: Trey Mooney (front row)
In: Fletcher Sharpe (five-eighth), Cody Hopwood (bench), Harrison Graham (bench)
Changes: Tyson Gamble (five-eighth to bench), Tyson Frizell (bench to front row)

Referee: Peter Gough
Sideline Officials: Dave Munro, Phil Henderson
Video Referee: Grant Atkins

HEAD TO HEAD - 1988 - 2025​

	TOTAL	CANTERBURY	NEWCASTLE	DRAWN
ALL MATCHES	58	31	26	1
ACCOR	17	10	7	0

LAST FIVE MEETINGS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2023	Round 18	NEWCASTLE 66-0	Accor	11004
2023	Round 24	NEWCASTLE 42-6	McD. Jones	23464
2024	Round 7	CANTERBURY 36-12	Accor	17784
2024	Round 13	CANTERBURY 32-2	McD. Jones	21204
2025	Round 5	CANTERBURY 20-0	Accor	24113

BIGGEST WINS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2004	Round 25	CANTERBURY 52-6	Telstra	20043
2023	Round 18	NEWCASTLE 66-0	Accor	11004

NEXT FOUR MATCHES​

	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8
CANTERBURY	SOUTH SYDNEY (A)	PENRITH (H)	PARRAMATTA (A)	BRISBANE (A)
NEWCASTLE	CANBERRA (H)	WESTS TIGERS (A)	SYDNEY (A)	PENRITH (H)

LAST THREE MATCHES​

	Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
CANTERBURY	ST GEO ILLA	W 15-14	(BYE)		CANBERRA	W 14-10
NEWCASTLE	NORTH QLD	W 28-18	MANLY	W 36-16	WARRIORS	L 12-38

STATE OF PLAY: 2026 SEASON​

	POSITION	PLAYED	BYES	W-L-D	FOR	AGAINST
CANTERBURY	3rd	2	1	2-0-0	29	24
NEWCASTLE	8th	3	0	2-1-0	76	72

 

[Mr_Knightside]

No chance of winning this one I’m afraid.

 

[mozza91]

Can we just not? Haven’t scored a try against the Dogs in the 240 minutes of playing against them.

 

[slotmachine]

Will get absolutely smothered by the dogs.

 

[Woody90]

I just want to skip ahead to when we have some players back

 

[Rod]

I'm not sure the Dogs are as good as we're making it sound. Solid defensively but not clicking at all in attack.

Could be an arm wrestle, which is a shame as it would be a perfect game for Sharpe who sounds like is unlikely once again.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

Lol missing 3/4 of our spine and our best prop

Are we allowed to forfeit?

 

[Zoidberg]

I'm not sure the Dogs are as good as we're making it sound. Solid defensively but not clicking at all in attack.

Could be an arm wrestle, which is a shame as it would be a perfect game for Sharpe who sounds like is unlikely once again.

So it’ll be a game like last years early losses.
18-6 (if we are lucky)
Hopefully Sharpe is back but if not we are going to struggle to get many points.
Maybe we will learn a big lesson from last weekend and be alot slicker, who knows!

 

[slotmachine]

and our best prop

What's wrong with JSaf?

 

[The Axe of Druss]

What's wrong with JSaf?

Nothing

However our best prop Mooney is suspended

 

[perverse]

our best prop Mooney

By what metric?

 

[Zoidberg]

Nothing

However our best prop Mooney is suspended

You misspelled Marzhew.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

By what metric?

His effect on the game mostly. Mooney has 10 offloads so far this year which is more than any other player in our team and by a decent margin. We haven't had a guy consistently create second phase play in middle for a long time

 

[Dr Dr Gimedanews]

His effect on the game mostly. Mooney has 10 offloads so far this year which is more than any other player in our team and by a decent margin. We haven't had a guy consistently create second phase play in middle for a long time

and he appears to have a pair of balls.

Jsaf strikes fear into the hearts of exactly no one. One rung up the ladder from his brother but that's not saying much - winning zero premierships if Jsaf is our alpha

 

[League Unlimited News]

1. Fletcher Hunt
2. Dominic Young 3. Dane Gagai 4. Bradman Best 5. Greg Marzhew
6. Fletcher Sharpe 7. Sandon Smith
8. Jacob Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Tyson Frizell
11. Dylan Lucas 12. Jermaine McEwen
13. Mathew Croker

14. Thomas Cant 15. Pasami Saulo 16. Cody Hopwood 17. Francis Manuleleua
18. Tyson Gamble 19. Harrison Graham
20. Elijah Leaumoana 21. James Schiller 22. Wilson De Courcey

Changes from last match:
Out: Trey Mooney (front row)
In: Fletcher Sharpe (five-eighth), Cody Hopwood (bench), Harrison Graham (bench)
Changes: Tyson Gamble (five-eighth to bench), Tyson Frizell (bench to front row)

NRL TEAMS & OFFICIALS - 2026 Round 4 » League Unlimited

leagueunlimited.com

 

[perverse]

His effect on the game mostly. Mooney has 10 offloads so far this year which is more than any other player in our team and by a decent margin. We haven't had a guy consistently create second phase play in middle for a long time

lol, mate by that metric Adam Cuthbertson is a better prop than Petro Civoniceva. JSaf and Mooney are playing different roles in the team suited to their skillset.

Jsaf strikes fear into the hearts of exactly no one. One rung up the ladder from his brother but that's not saying much - winning zero premierships if Jsaf is our alpha

Go watch some of his hits on Turbo against Manly and rethink that one I reckon. Softened him up big time.

JSaf isn't a flashy prop, but if you think Mooney is better than him at this stage you're a bit distracted by the shiny new toy imo. Offloads and second phase play is nice and I love it too - we absolutely needed that added to our pack and it's great to have it - but metres gained, tackles made, willingness to take the tough carries, sizing up opposition stars, one-percent efforts, etc are the foundation of what you build the middle of the field around. JSaf is the heart of our pack. Everything he does is at a consistently high quality and incredibly dependable. There's a reason why he was given the captaincy the other day, and why he leads our team song in the sheds.

Needless to say the reason Druss mentioned offloads is because it's the only stat on the sheet in Mooney's favour. Go compare their metres gained, metres per run, error rate, tackle efficiencies, PTB speed, post contact metres, etc, etc... all the bread and butter of being a prop forward - and you will quickly see a picture emerge that on average, JSaf just does things far more consistently and at a high level. On average he tackles more, runs more - and gets over the ad line more - finds his front more (and thus gets faster PTBs) - and has way less errors in him. And he's been doing this for us for quite a long time. Incredibly dependable.

I'm a fan of Mooney btw, I love what he brings and I'm stoked to have him over Leo... but imo you're drawing a long bow saying he's our best prop. He's definitely got a lot of potential though and may well get there in time. He needs to refine his game and just get more runs on the board before I'm having that conversation seriously. Ultimately though, they are very very different prop forwards - and I think you want both in your pack tbh.

 

[Old dog]

Can’t understand no Crouch , surely a better option than Saulo and Hopwood at this time along with other young up and comers

 

[Yosh]

and he appears to have a pair of balls.

Jsaf strikes fear into the hearts of exactly no one. One rung up the ladder from his brother but that's not saying much - winning zero premierships if Jsaf is our alpha

I don't know man. JSaf has been exceptional this year. I think better than when he made Origin.

 

[The Axe of Druss]

lol, mate by that metric Adam Cuthbertson is a better prop than Petro Civoniceva. JSaf and Mooney are playing different roles in the team suited to their skillset.


Go watch some of his hits on Turbo against Manly and rethink that one I reckon. Softened him up big time.

JSaf isn't a flashy prop, but if you think Mooney is better than him at this stage you're a bit distracted by the shiny new toy imo. Offloads and second phase play is nice and I love it too - we absolutely needed that added to our pack and it's great to have it - but metres gained, tackles made, willingness to take the tough carries, sizing up opposition stars, one-percent efforts, etc are the foundation of what you build the middle of the field around. JSaf is the heart of our pack. Everything he does is at a consistently high quality and incredibly dependable. There's a reason why he was given the captaincy the other day, and why he leads our team song in the sheds.

Needless to say the reason Druss mentioned offloads is because it's the only stat on the sheet in Mooney's favour. Go compare their metres gained, metres per run, error rate, tackle efficiencies, PTB speed, post contact metres, etc, etc... all the bread and butter of being a prop forward - and you will quickly see a picture emerge that on average, JSaf just does things far more consistently and at a high level. On average he tackles more, runs more - and gets over the ad line more - finds his front more (and thus gets faster PTBs) - and has way less errors in him. And he's been doing this for us for quite a long time. Incredibly dependable.

I'm a fan of Mooney btw, I love what he brings and I'm stoked to have him over Leo... but imo you're drawing a long bow saying he's our best prop. He's definitely got a lot of potential though and may well get there in time. He needs to refine his game and just get more runs on the board before I'm having that conversation seriously. Ultimately though, they are very very different prop forwards - and I think you want both in your pack tbh.

Mooneys numbers aren't that far off Jsafs in all those metrics you mentioned mate but you're right, I mentioned the offloads because it's what makes him stand out above Jsaf and I stand by that.

IMO we'll miss him more this week than we would have Jsaf

 

[Yosh]

Mooneys numbers aren't that far off Jsafs in all those metrics you mentioned mate but you're right, I mentioned the offloads because it's what makes him stand out above Jsaf and I stand by that.

IMO we'll miss him more this week than we would have Jsaf

I personally disagree. The offloads and commitment is nice But JSaf always takes out hardest runs. Wouldn't have been given captains armband for nothing either. I'm a big fan of Mooney but JSaf is still our main man.