Newcastle fans won't forget Andrew Johns but the new owner of the blue and red No.7 jumper gave them plenty to be excited about as the Knights celebrated Danny Buderus' 200th NRL game with a 22-18 win over Canberra.

Playing in the halves alongside childhood buddy and fellow 20-year-old Jarrod Mullen for the first time in the top grade, Luke Walsh played a leading role in all four Newcastle tries.

While it wasn't quite Joey-esque it was promising, and encouraging for coach Brian Smith who has already marked Walsh and Mullen to fill the Newcastle No.7 and No.6 jumpers deep into the next decade.

Smith was tempered in his assessment, which may have come from the fact the duo failed to capitalise on a host of first-half opportunities to lead only 4-0 at the break.

"Excited yes, but there's plenty of things there for us to work on," Smith said.

"They're a talented pair... they have the potential to be pretty good players."

While Walsh and Mullen were handy, Buderus put on a masterclass from dummy half.

The veteran hooker rebounded from the disappointment of skippering NSW to an Origin series defeat last Wednesday to torture the Raiders defence around the rucks.

"That man Buderus did it again ... after 200 games and all of the stuff that he's had to handle, the highs and lows even in the last few weeks," Smith said.

"The disappointment that Danny felt from NSW not competing in the third Origin for it to be a decider was mammoth.

"He put it all aside - that's the mark of a real club man."

Buderus was happy just to get back to that winning feeling.

"It was a very disappointing couple of days actually ... you've got to shake yourself off and go again and it was good to get amongst the boys here tonight," he said.

The Knights were lucky not to be 6-0 down after just three minutes when video referee Steve Clark ruled Canberra skipper Alan Tongue failed to get downward pressure on a rolling ball.

Tongue was in disbelief when the decision was handed down and still shaking his head long after the game.

"I don't know what else I can do, it hit my hands I put it down," Tongue said.

"As soon as he went to the video ref I wasn't worried at all, I told all the boys I scored the try."

Eight minutes later a long ball from Walsh found Mullen who grubbered in behind the Raiders defence for the first of Adam MacDougall's two tries.

The Raiders got their noses in front when Lincoln Withers squeezed over from dummy half but it proved only a minor lapse with the Knights responding with three tries in the space of 16 minutes to MacDougall, Brad Tighe and interchange utility Chris Bailey to secure their seventh win of the season.

Buderus was given an early mark to celebrate his milestone but he and coach Smith weren't happy with what they saw from the sidelines as the Raiders ran in two tries in the final five minutes via Colin Best and Brad Cross to add some respectability to the scoreboard.

Despite the late slip, Smith said he was proud of how his team held firm, particularly after playing nearly the entire game a man short after Josh Perry limped off with a hamstring injury after eight minutes.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP