The NRL judiciary will have some work to do after four players are sin-binned in Newcastle's win over South Sydney, while the Raiders blank Wests Tigers in Parramatta.

More to come.

Knights knock over Rabbits in fiery encounter

Newcastle captain Mitchell Pearce accused South Sydney skipper Sam Burgess of a "dog shot" before the red-hot Knights put the depleted Rabbitohs to the sword in an explosive NRL showdown at the Olympic stadium.

Four players were sin-binned after Friday night's match erupted a minute before half-time.

But it was Pearce who had the last laugh after the former NSW State of Origin half piloted the Knights to six straight wins in 2019.

Newcastle's stirring 20-12 triumph elevated the Knights into outright fourth spot and consigned Wayne Bennett's second-placed but injury-hit Rabbitohs to successive defeats for the first time this season.

But it was the wild old-fashioned brawl that will provide all the talking points and leave the NRL match review committee with a busy weekend.

Souths prop Tom Burgess and his Newcastle opposite Damien Saifiti sparked the melee.

Taking exception to Saifiti throwing the first punch at his younger brother, Sam Burgess joined the action, with a furious Pearce claiming both Burgess brothers were guilty of head butts — Sam on Knights second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Tom on Saifiti.

"Sam Burgess comes in from behind and dog shots him when no one's looking," Pearce pleaded with referee Grant Atkins.

"Our boys are just breaking it up. So that's two from them that have got to go. One's got to get sent off.

"He (Tom Burgess) head-butted him (Saifiti) first and our guy's reacted. How's that not our penalty?"

Atkins disagreed, enabling stand-in five-eighth Mason Lino to drag Souths back to within a converted try, trailing 12-6 at the break.

But that was as close as Souths got, with Sam Burgess's solo try five minutes from time merely a consolation effort.

Burgess engaged in a running verbal battle with Atkins throughout the second half that he was never going to win.

Rounding out a miserable night for the siblings, Tom was placed on report for allegedly tripping Knights hooker Connor Watson and his twin George was forced off the field early in the second stanza for a HIA after coming off second-best in a head clash with Saifiti.

While Pearce, coming off five straight man-of-the-match displays for the resurgent Knights again impressed, the Rabbitohs were rudderless without star halves Cody Walker and Adam Reynolds, while James Roberts had a mixed homecoming following his mid-season defection from Brisbane.

Roberts barely got a hand on Hymel Hunt when his centre counterpart crossed for Newcastle's opening try in the fourth minute.

But "Jimmy the Jet" showed he hadn't lost any speed during his time in reserve grade in Brisbane over the past month when he won the race to Adam Doueihi's chip kick to score shortly after.

But the writing was on the wall for Souths when Pearce and Lino combined to put Mitch Barnett over and then Watson scored in the 45th minute to extend Newcastle's lead to 20-6 as the clock wound down.

Raiders unstoppable against Wests Tigers

Bailey Simonsson (L) scored the first of Canberra's five tries in a 28-0 demolition of Wests Tigers. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

Canberra Raiders have taken their English invasion to a new level after putting on a remarkable soccer display in a 28-0 shutout of the Wests Tigers.

The Raiders made a mockery of the wet conditions in Parramatta by setting up three first half tries off the boot, including two impressive flick-ons.

The 12,585 crowd was treated to an early highlight on Friday when Elliott Whitehead toed a Jarrod Croker pass for Bailey Simonsson to draw first blood.

But the Englishman was outdone by winger Nick Cotric, who brought out his Serbian blood with his first-touch through-ball for Jordan Rapana to score.

The third was far more traditional, yet still smothered in British tinge.

Star forward John Bateman grubbered ahead for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who gathered and passed back to the English international for an 18-0 half-time lead.

Whitehead also played a hand in Croker's second-half try, while Aidan Sezer completed the rout with an 80-metre intercept try.

Sezer played half-back in place of the overlooked Sam Williams.

It was arguably the best display of the season from the Raiders, who have notched two in a row and reclaim fourth spot from Newcastle.

The travelling contingent of Canberra fans celebrated the victory by performing their Viking clap in the closing stages.

The Tigers, in contrast, struggled to bare their claws at any point of the contest.

Hosting their first match at the new venue, they failed to adapt to the greasy conditions and were bullied into submission by their more assertive opponents.

Compounding the defeat was a suspected eye injury to veteran Benji Marshall, who failed to emerge after the break, and an ankle issue for Mahe Fonua.

Skipper Moses Mbye started the night in the centres, but was constantly shifted between full-back and five-eighth due to concussion and injury.

His immediate future at Concord is under a cloud after being linked with a move to North Queensland, and the club's reported pursuit of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

Watene-Zelezniak was released by Penrith late on Friday.

Chris Lawrence came through unscathed in his first game of the year, playing 70 minutes after recovering from horrific facial injuries in the pre-season.

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