New-look Knights impress, but sweating on Sharpe injury…

New-look Knights impress, but sweating on Sharpe injury

 

LAS VEGAS – The Newcastle Knights have opened Justin Holbrook’s coaching era with a commanding 28-18 victory over the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL’s Vegas season opener, though celebrations have been tempered by a worrying knee injury to five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe.

 

Sharpe was forced out of the contest in the 26th minute after suffering the injury while defending near the Cowboys’ line. The young playmaker initially attempted to see out the game, but opposition defenders targeted his compromised position, with Heilum Luki crossing for a try before Sharpe was substituted.

 

While the club is optimistic the injury is not a season-ending ACL tear, concerns remain it could sideline him for up to a third of the campaign. Scans are scheduled to confirm the full extent of the damage.

 

“Mechanism wise – very innocuous,” the NRL Physio noted on social media platform X. “No clear change of direction or deceleration plant of the foot that would bring concern for an ACL injury. Often see mystery knee issues like that end up as meniscus tears, though worth noting just before going down Sharpe got tackled knee into ground (typical PCL mechanism). If a meniscus tear or PCL sprain, recovery is usually measured in weeks rather than months, but there are a wide range of possible outcomes here.”

 

Prior to his departure, Sharpe had been in outstanding form, combining with captain Kalyn Ponga to score the first try of the 2026 NRL season and linking effectively with new recruit Dylan Brown.

 

The Cowboys also face injury headaches, with Tom Mikaele lasting just 10 minutes before leaving the field for scans, while fullback Scott Drinkwater battled a rib injury before returning with medical injections.

 

After claiming the wooden spoon in 2025, the Knights looked transformed with Holbrook at the helm and Brown in the halves. The former Parramatta Eels star was singled out for praise by commentators, with SEN’s Chad Townsend stating: “Wooden spooners in 2025, come over to Las Vegas on the back of a new coach, a new halfback, and gosh, he looked good tonight. He got this team around the park, he kicked the ball well, he ran the ball well, he combined with Kalyn Ponga extremely well.”

 

Tim Mannah, fellow SEN analyst, added: “I thought he really stood up today, Dylan Brown. We spoke about the fact that he’s left Parramatta and had to learn to be the leader of the team. We saw what he did with the Kiwis team last year, and this is just the start of a very exciting new chapter for him and the Newcastle Knights.”