The Dragons raced home to a 28-18 win over Newcastle in their Pre-Season Challenge battle at Jubilee Stadium on a warm Saturday night.
Ryan Couchman made a successful return in his first hit-out since sustaining an ACL tear in Round 1 last year running for 156 metres from 13 carries and making 28 tackles without a miss.
A collection of younger players were also given opportunities to stake their claim three weeks out from the side's Las Vegas season opener.
Kade Reed impressed for the Red V scoring a try and laying on several others whilst also finding himself in the thick of several momentum-turning effort plays as the headgear-clad whiz-kid endeared himself to the home crowd.
Match: Dragons v Knights
Round 1 -
home Team
Dragons
1st Position
away Team
Knights
4th Position
Venue: Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
A knock-on on the opening play of the match gifted the visitors a quick opportunity only for Setu Tu – in his first game in the Red V – to produce a ball-dislodging bone-rattler to introduce himself to the Jubilee faithful in style.
A second error in as many sets saw the Knights enjoy a boatload of early territory however a slips-like Reed intercept put a stop to the raid before the teenage halfback came up with a vital kick defusal the next defensive set to again wrestle back possession for his side.
Reed's stellar opening to the contest continued with the No.7 taking in a fifth-tackle David Fale offload, putting boot to ball, and winning the race to his own grubber kick to snap up first points.
The Wests Devils product – who, this time 12 months ago, found himself skippering Illawarra's SG Ball outfit – converted his own try to make it 6-0 less than 15 minutes in.
A late set restart saw the Knights again charge onto the attack and they found points off it with Fletcher Sharpe sending Kyle McCarthy over in the southeastern corner to bring it back to 6-4.
Ryan Couchman left the field for a HIA – which he ultimately passed – a little over a quarter of the way in bringing Arncliffe junior Nick Tsougranis into the action.
Tu found a second four-pointer for the hosts against the run of play plucking a spilt ball out of the air and racing close to 70 metres away untouched.
Reed improved to two-from-two from the tee to push the Dragons' edge beyond a converted try.
The Knights fashioned another response off the back of a Dragons error with Matthew Arthur weighting a grubber out of dummy-half for a chasing Brodie Jones.
James Schiller was denied a try by video officials a little over a half-hour in but had improved luck moments later somersaulting his way over in the right-hand corner to lock things up at 12-apiece.
Reed came up with another big play two minutes out from the half-time siren chasing Sandon Smith down off an intercept and knocking the ball loose in front of a rowdy Norm Provan Grandstand.
Francis Manuleleua looked to have put the Knights on top early in the second half only for the officials to rule a forward pass in the lead-up.
The next points instead belonged to the Red V with Josh Kerr crashing over after a Reed chip ended up back in the arms of the zippy halfback who moved it on inside to the supporting Kerr.
Thomas Cant found a try for the Knights with 15 minutes on the clock to earn the visitors an 18-16 advantage.
NRL Match Highlights: Pre-Season Challenge vs. Knights
The Dragons wrestled the lead back minutes later with Mathew Feagai snapping up a looping cut-out and taking off downfield with a smile on his face to dive over next to the posts to make it 20-18.
The hosts were able to push further ahead soon after with Hayden Buchanan the beneficiary of a Lyhkan King-Togia grubber which multiple Knights failed to clean up.
The scoring had not yet ceased for the Red V as the night ended in style with Reed threading a pinpoint cut-out to Tyrell Sloan who glided over in the southwestern corner with three minutes on the clock to secure a 10-point win for his side.
