Move over Kurt Gidley - there's a new halfback in town.
For the second successive week young Tyrone Roberts has laid claims to being Newcastle's long-term No.7, scoring a superb try to help his side to a come-from-behind 28-12 win over Canberra on Sunday at Hunter Stadium.
Skipper Gidley missed last week's impressive victory over North Queensland with a calf injury and although he returned to face the Raiders, it was at hooker, before being forced out of the game with concussion at halftime.
Trailing 12-10 at the break after squandering a 10-0 lead, Roberts restored the Knights' advantage 11 minutes after the restart, with an outrageous right-foot step that fooled the Raiders defence, then ran through the subsequent gap to score.
It was almost a carbon copy of the his try against the Cowboys last Monday and on this evidence Gidley may have to get used to sharing hooking duties with Danny Buderus this season.
The Knights opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark through Akuila Uate who hauled in a delicious kick from Jarrod Mullen that curled over the head of Jack Wighton and into the arms of the NSW winger.
Wayne Bennett's side continued to press and the advantage was stretched six minutes later when Anthony Quinn scored his first try since returning to the Knights from Melbourne.
The Raiders claimed there was an obstruction against Josh McCrone in the build-up to the try, but the video referee ruled in favour of the home side.
Gidley missed the extras but Quinn's four-pointer woke up the Raiders who scored two unanswered tries to take the lead.
Joel Thompson grabbed the first when he got his fingertips onto a well-judged Sam Williams grubber-kick before Josh Papalii added a second when he ran straight over Gidley to score from 10 metres out, while Jarrod Croker converted both.
But Roberts' try settled Wayne Bennett's side down in the second period and despite close efforts from Blake Ferguson and Thompson, who could only put the ball down on the foot of Uate as he lurched for the line, were good value for their win.
Back-rower Adam Cuthbertson iced the result for the hosts just after the hour-mark when he bulldozed his way to the line and scored his first try since the 2011 semi-final for St George Illawarra against Brisbane.
The former Manly and Cronulla man then added his second just before the siren to seal a third win of the season for his side.
In a further blow for the Raiders, Wighton left the game with an arm injury.
- AAP
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