Dominic Young celebrated his 24th birthday by scoring twice, leading Newcastle to a 30-24 win over Canberra, ending their finals hopes.
A furious Ricky Stuart has labelled forward Corey Horsburgh's decision to slap Dane Gagai as a "brain explosion" and Canberra's NRL finals hopes were finally ended in a 30-24 loss to Newcastle.
Knowing a defeat would dash the Raiders' ambitions of finishing with a winning record, effectively concluding their top-eight ambitions, the Green Machine's campaign looked alive when Gagai was penalised for initiating a push and shove metres from the Knights' line.
But the visitors challenged the decision and the bunker found that Horsburgh had slapped the Knights centre and he was sent to the sin bin in the 73rd minute.