Knights too good
The Knights beat the Cowboys 28–18 at Allegiant Stadium in front of 45,719 in Round 1. It was 12–all at half-time. The win snapped a 9-game losing streak.
Murray Taulagi scored 2 tries. Kalyn Ponga (Knights) was the standout with 80 fantasy points, 157 run metres and 8 tackle breaks.
Our Final Tip had the Cowboys at 55% (a coin flip) and got it wrong. The bookies had the other side as favourites, so this one was an upset.
Knights
LLLLL
Cowboys
LWWLL
Game flow
Knights · above
Cowboys · below
Show scoring as a table
| Min | Team | Player | Event | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6' | Knights | Fletcher Sharpe | Try | 4–0 |
| 7' | Knights | Kalyn Ponga | Conversion | 6–0 |
| 13' | Knights | Greg Marzhew | Try | 10–0 |
| 14' | Knights | Kalyn Ponga | Conversion | 12–0 |
| 25' | Cowboys | Heilum Luki | Try | 12–4 |
| 26' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 12–6 |
| 30' | Cowboys | Murray Taulagi | Try | 12–10 |
| 31' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 12–12 |
| 45' | Knights | Bradman Best | Try | 16–12 |
| 46' | Knights | Kalyn Ponga | Conversion | 18–12 |
| 47' | Knights | Dominic Young | Try | 22–12 |
| 51' | Cowboys | Murray Taulagi | Try | 22–16 |
| 53' | Cowboys | Jake Clifford | Conversion | 22–18 |
| 72' | Knights | Trey Mooney | Try | 26–18 |
| 73' | Knights | Kalyn Ponga | Conversion | 28–18 |
Team stats
Better on the day
KnightsCowboys
49%
Possession
51%
75%
Completion rate
76%
1,745
Run metres
1,855
624
Post-contact metres
659
5
Line breaks
2
41
Tackle breaks
37
12
Offloads
7
706
Kick metres
581
88.4%
Effective tackle %
86.2%
37
Missed tackles
41
12
Errors
12
4
Penalties conceded
5
| NEW | NQL | |
|---|---|---|
| Dangerous Tackle | ||
| Ball Strip | ||
| Six-again (ruck) | ||
| 2nd Effort | ||
| Crowding | ||
| Escorts | ||
| Other | ||
| Total | 6 | 5 |
Positional battles
Combined numbers per position group · more fantasy points takes the battle
Fullbacks
NEW 80-21
Ponga
Drinkwater
157
Run metres
117
40
Kick return metres
36
8
Tackle breaks
3
1
Line breaks
0
Halves
NQL 94-78
Sharpe, Brown
Clifford, Dearden
1
Try assists
2
2
Line-break assists
1
283
Kick metres
389
2
Errors
2
Hookers
NQL 56-52
Crossland
Mahoney
48
Tackles
47
10
Run metres
30
102
Passes
113
0
Errors
1
Middles
NEW 148-110
Saifiti, Mooney, Frizell
Hess, Taumalolo, Cotter
335
Run metres
333
123
Post-contact metres
145
100
Tackles
84
7
Missed tackles
9
Back row
NQL 123-97
Lucas, McEwen
Luki, McIntyre
185
Run metres
140
4
Tackle breaks
3
80
Tackles
90
2
Missed tackles
6
Outside backs
NEW 173-155
Young, Gagai, Best, Marzhew
Burns, Purdue, Chester, Taulagi
676
Run metres
715
3
Line breaks
1
3
Tries
2
8
Errors
5
Best performers
NEW
Kalyn Ponga
80
NQL
Heilum Luki
68
NEW
Trey Mooney
66
NEW
Dylan Lucas
60
NQL
Tom Dearden
57
NEW
Dominic Young
56
NQL
Reed Mahoney
56
NQL
Sam McIntyre
55
Show performers as a table
| Player | Team | Fantasy | Run m | Tackle breaks | Line breaks | Tries | Try assists | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalyn Ponga | Knights | 80 | 157 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Heilum Luki | Cowboys | 68 | 97 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 48 |
| Trey Mooney | Knights | 66 | 132 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33 |
| Dylan Lucas | Knights | 60 | 138 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| Tom Dearden | Cowboys | 57 | 89 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37 |
| Dominic Young | Knights | 56 | 195 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Reed Mahoney | Cowboys | 56 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 |
| Sam McIntyre | Cowboys | 55 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 42 |
Head-to-head
2025 R24Cowboys home
NEW
4
38
NQL
Cowboys by 34
2024 R2Cowboys home
NEW
20
21
NQL
Cowboys by 1
2023 R8Cowboys home
NEW
16
18
NQL
Cowboys by 2
2022 R9Cowboys home
NEW
16
36
NQL
Cowboys by 20
2021 R16Knights home
NEW
38
0
NQL
Knights by 38
How we tipped it
Chance each model gave the Knights · right of 50% = tipped the winner
Generated automatically from nrl.com match data and our own models · 2026-09-25 05:15:59 UTC