Newcastle Knights 28-18 NQ Cowboys
Adam O'Brien (Newcastle Knights):
"It was just a Round 1 game of footy where both sides had to deal with changes they had to make. It was a huge event with a big week's preparation. A lot of people paid their hard-earned to come over and watch from Newcastle, so as a coach and as players, we're thrilled to give them the win. Our key guys were excellent. Nobody was going to panic in what we knew would be a tough second half. We had to come up with some things and we did.
"Kalyn (Ponga) is on the ground cramping up in nearly his whole body. He couldn't get up (from the dressing room floor). I want to give him a wrap. He had to train on his own in pre-season and keep himself super fit. He was a big part in us winning today. We'll just have to get the scans and go from there, but he's happy at the moment since we got the result."
Todd Payten (NQ Cowboys):
"We started both halves really costly. I think we had one set for ten minutes in both stanzas, which chewed up a lot of juice. We scrapped and fought, showed some character and got back to 12-12 at half-time with some good footy. But we just put ourselves under too much pressure with the way we started the second half. I felt things were starting to turn (in our favour) just as (Braidon) Burns got sin-binned with less than ten minutes to go.
"I'm really disappointed with how the Tom Mikaele incident was handled, considering Kalyn (Ponga) gets up and plays on and Tom is out for six weeks. I'd just like a bit of consistency. It hurt us - we had to use four interchanges prior to half-time."
Canterbury Bulldogs 15-14 St George Illawarra Dragons
Cameron Ciraldo (Canterbury Canterbury Bulldogs):
"I wouldn't say it was never in doubt. It looked like it was tracking towards a draw there, and probably both teams deserved that. Credit to the guy on my left (Stephen Crichton) who has worked really hard for those moments, and fitting to get it on such a big stage today.
"There were plenty of calls on the field that could have gone either way. We were sitting that high up that they (the players) looked like ants on the field, so I didn't have a great view of the (Bronson Xerri penalty). There were a couple of calls early that went against us, that's why I was really proud of the way we hung on.
"I've said all pre-season that his (Lachlan Galvin) best ability is his ability to learn. He's a 20-year-old halfback and he's learning really quickly. If you think about all the really good halfbacks and what they were like at 20, he's tracking in a really good direction. I thought what he has learned over the pre-season and the Newcastle trial match was good. He's committed to his craft and he'll get better every game and every year."
Shane Flanagan (St George Illawarra Dragons):
"The effort and attitude was outstanding. Credit to the Bulldogs who got the field goal right. I felt that maybe a draw was probably the right result today. It's a tricky one because I think the NRL has done an outstanding job (with Las Vegas) - the week has been fantastic - but when the game gets decided like that, it's disappointing. We didn't get the rub of the green, that's for sure. It wasn't decided the right way in my view.
"There were a couple of decisions that went to the Bunker that were... strange, to put it nicely. We didn't get the rub of green in any of those decisions. I just want to reiterate that the game has been put on a really high pedestal and tonight I don't think it should have been decided the way it was. Good luck to the Bulldogs - they were good enough to win and kick the field goal - but I think we should have flown home with one point each."