Warriors beat Knights as perfect start to NRL season continues
Saturday, 21 March 2026
At McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle: Warriors 38 (Erin Clark 12’, Jackson Ford 29’ Leka Halasima 38’, James Fisher-Harris 51’, Tanah Boyd 54, Luke Hanson 80’’ tries; Boyd 5 con, Taine Tuaupiki pen, Ford con) Knights 12 (Fletcher Hunt 4’, Greg Marzhew 65’ tries Sandon Smith 2 con). HT: 18-6.
Mitchell Barnett looked like he had never been away when he handed Jackson Ford a 100th game try as the Warriors’ magical NRL season start continued with a third successive win for the first time in eight years.
Andrew Webster’s team are now averaging 40 points as they racked up a 38-12 drubbing of the Knights in Newcastle on Saturday to go 3 and 0 for the first time since 2018.
Barnett produced a try assist for boom front rower Ford soon after taking the field for his first game since snapping his ACL last June as the Warriors ran riot.
The Warriors’ co-captain showed the McDonald Jones Stadium crowd what they will be missing after his call to sign for the Broncos next year rather than re-sign for the Knights.
But it was red-hot running scrumhalf Tanah Boyd who again led the Warriors around while 80-minute dynamo Ford- - with a try and a conversion to mark his 100th NRL game - and skipper James Fisher-Harris spearheaded a dominant pack.
Ford summed up the mentality in the Warriors this year when he told Sky TV: “It’s only round three, we want to get better.”
Brilliant Boyd collected his second try assist of the game - and seventh of the season in the second half and then scored himself to put the game beyond the Knights’ reach. He is making himself undroppable when Luke Metcalf eventually returns.
Taine Tuaupiki was electric on attack and obdurate on defence, with the 1.78m fullback standing his ground against the Knights’ 2m winger Dom Young.
Newcastle – missing injured star playmakers Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown - started superbly when flying mullet fullback Fletcher Hunt - scored as Warriors defenders dithered under Tyson Gamble’s bomb.
Poor Morgan Gannon. The Warriors’ English Super League recruit’s NRL debut lasted just six minutes when he copped a game-ending Category 1 HIA after taking a big knock trying to tackle Knights skipper Jacob Saifiti.
But the Warriors scarcely skipped a beat.
Webster’s tails-up team produced three first-half tries, including Erin Clark’s first score in Warriors’ colours, the almost inevitable effort from Leka Halasima and Ford’s milestone marker.
They could have had a few more, but Fisher-Harris had the ball jolted from his big mitt over the line and was then stopped short while Ali Leiataua had strayed offside before snaffling a Boyd bomb.
The Knights coughed up seven first-half penalties and three set re-starts, earning referee Liam Kennedhy’s ire. He issued a team warning and then dispatched Hunt in the 33rd minute for repeated team infringements.
Greg Marzhew was pinged for interfering with rival winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in the air, leading to Clark scoring his first try in 30 appearances for the Warriors dating back to 2017 after Niukore ran a clever decoy.
Barnett put Ford in for the second try on the half-hour mark, but the Warriors’ blew a chance to extend the lead after Hunt’s banishment when Taine Tuaupiki, otherwise excellent on attack, pushed a pass early in the set.
But they went into the sheds with a 12-point buffer after debutant standoff Luke Hanson put Halasima - playing at left centre for new dad Adam Pompey - over for his third try in three games and the 16th of his career.
After the interval, Boyd evaded the Knights’ Kiwis hooker Phoenix Crossland, handed off opposite number Sandon Smith, dummied and sent Fisher-Harris powering over for a try at his third attempt.
Then the slippery scrumhalf scampered over off a Wayde Egan pass from dummy half.
The Knights did grab a consolation try to Marzhew in the 65th minute, but the margin was too great to overhaul, and Tuaupiki made the winning margin 26 points with a late penalty and an unselfish offload for a debut try to Hanson.