'Oh wow': Andrew Johns bewildered by Fletcher Sharpe's all-time drop out shocker

Newcastle Knights five-eighth Fletcher Sharpe has kicked a candidate for the worst drop out of the year.

Late in the first half of their 20-6 loss to the Dragons at Kogarah, Sharpe's high effort never looked close to breaking the 10m plane, and instead drifted back towards the Knights' dead ball line.

After a couple of bounces, over it went, several metres inside the touchline.

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"Oh wow ... that's so bad it's impressive," Nine caller Mat Thompson said. A bewildered Andrew Johns said he'd never seen anything like it.

From the resulting plays, Dragons rookie Loko Pasifiki Tonga sent Kogarah into hysterics when he forced his way over to score his maiden NRL try virtually under the sticks.

"I think there's a star here," Johns quipped.

Despite this lowlight, Sharpe was a standout player in a Knights team that looked a shadow of the side the beat the Panthers at Bathurst a week ago.

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Making his NRL debut, Sevens convert and former Olympian Nathan Lawson was dudded his first try in only the fourth minute when Valentine Holmes' pass was called forward.

After some end to end footy, the Dragons finally broke the deadlock on the 20 minute mark after Kyle Flanagan threw a beautiful dummy before putting Jaydn Su'A into a hole.

Barely five minutes later they had their second when Jack de Belin ran hard into a gap and got a late offload away for Clint Gutherson to score.

It was at this point Su'A was ruled out of the match with a suspected syndesmosis injury.

Five minutes from half time, the Dragons forced a dropout, and Fletcher Sharpe's kick somehow managed to go out not over the touchline, but the dead-ball line.

From the resulting plays, Loko Pasifiki Tonga sent Kogarah into hysterics when he scored his maiden NRL try virtually under the sticks. He had been denied moments earlier by the Knights defence.

Holmes was impeccable with the boot, and the hosts carried an 18-0 lead into the break.

The Dragons continued to look threatening in the second half, but the greasy conditions cost two certain four-pointers. Both Tyrell Sloan and Val Holmes dropped the ball in the process of scoring.

The Knights finally broke their scoring duck late in the clash when front-rower Leo Thompson made a cross-field run to the right, before attacking the line, getting a pass away for second-rower Kai Pearce-Paul to score.

Only two days after the Origin opener, Kalyn Ponga was a late scratching from the match, with O'Brien electing to protect an ankle injury his star fullback has been carrying since their loss to Parramatta.

"Ultimately I took the decision out of his hands, so I'm not the most popular person," O'Brien told Fox League.

"He's done everything he can, it's just two days after a [Origin and] a really interrupted week – it took him 10 days last week to get ready for Origin.

"And we've got a Thursday game (next week) so it's unrealistic to play all three. So he's disappointed but it's my job to protect him from himself, given the position he plays and the amount of kilometres he does at fullback, it's unrealistic."