round 1

Taking over the captaincy in Adam Reynolds' absence, Capewell capped a superb game with the booming field goal from 25 metres out with four minutes to play.

After having a try to Selwyn Cobbo in the 14th minute denied by a desperate cover tackle from Jaxson Paulo, the Broncos finally broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when Albert Kelly intercepted a Cody Walker pass and sprinted 85 metres to score.

Wighton grabbed the opening try of the night and played a key role in the match-winner as the game went to the wire in a pulsating second half.

After dominating possession for the opening eight minutes the Raiders capitalised through Wighton, combining down the left side with Nick Cotric to post the opening four-pointer.

Some of the gloss was taken off the Green Machine's flying start with hooker Josh Hodgson forced from the field inside the first 10 minutes with a knee injury.

Canberra are without star recruit Jamal Fogarty and skipper Jarrod Croker while the Sharks are in a similar boat with Cam McInnes and Wade Graham sidelined.

The Friday twilight clash will also be the first in the NRL coaching career of new Sharks mentor Craig Fitzgibbon.

The rundown
Team news
Raiders: After debuting in round 11 last year against the Storm, Brad Schneider is back for his second NRL game, taking the halfback role in the absence of Jamal Fogarty (knee).

Not only is Reynolds out, but also forward Kobe Hetherington, five-eighth Tyson Gamble and hooker Corey Paix.

The match would have been the first for Reynolds in Broncos colours as he was rested from the pre-season trials while coach Kevin Walters tried to determine who would partner him in the halves.

In the end it didn't matter and another new recruit, Billy Walters, will play alongside Albert Kelly against the new Rabbitohs pairing of Cody Walker and rookie halfback Lachlan Ilias.

After two early no-tries due to obstruction, Penrith finally made some early dominance count when young centre Izack Tago carried four defenders over the line in the 19th minute.

His centre partner Stephen Crichton crossed in the 31st but with a 12-0 halftime lead in the offing Penrith clocked off for a moment on the stroke of half time and Tom Trbojevic capitalised on some broken play to set up Ethan Bullemor for his first try in Manly colours.

Penrith's dominance last year was in no small part to the superb form of halfback Nathan Cleary, who was always touch-and-go for round one after off season shoulder surgery but has now been ruled out for a few weeks in a huge blow to Penrith's hopes of starting the season with a bang. 

Manly's own dominance was built off the back of a stunning individual season from Dally M medal winner Tom Trbojevic, who has already been setting up tries for fun through the trials and is out to not just match but improve on an individual season already considered one of the best ever. 

The first match was between the Waghi Tumbe and Rabaul Gurias.

Going head to head, both teams created strong defense but Waghi Tumbe managed to set their mark in just under 5 minutes to score their first try.

Joe Frank brought the score to 6 points with a successful conversion.

Gurias, on the other hand, equalised the score when Sailas Kahuna pushed his way through to score his season’s first for the Gurias, bringing the points to 6 all.

Despite a tough match, Waghi Tumbe managed to lead in the first half with 12 points to Gurias’ 10.

The Saints are coming 

What a time to be alive for Dragons fans. Saturday's 42-10 win over the Panthers sent shockwaves through the competition and forced rugby league scribes to update their record books. The 32-point win eclipsed their previous biggest wins over Penrith (42-14 in 2001 and 38-10 in 2009), while Gareth Widdop's 22-point haul equalled the club record for most points in a game, tying Amos Roberts's effort from 2000 and Jamie Soward's day out against Canberra in 2007.

Hat-trick heroe

Here's our guess at the likely line-ups for all 16 clubs based on off-season player moves and the current injury list.