Canberra Raiders 48 Newcastle Knights 18

They are the wooden spoon favourites, a bunch of mainly young blokes with not much experience who were supposed to have to wait a while for their first win. Well, it looks like we're going to have to find some other team to kick around after Canberra spoiled the Andrew Johns comeback last night.

The return of superstar halfback Johns was supposed to be the icing on the cake for a Newcastle side that had been able to win its first two games of the season without him - one when he was stretchered off the field after just four minutes and the other while he was still getting over the concussion.

But, instead, the Knights fell on their swords.

The much-maligned Raiders did a magnificent job to win, running away at Canberra Stadium. They were such short-priced wooden spoon favourites before the game that they will still be favourites to run last when the market is readjusted today, but at least their odds will ease a bit.

It remains to be seen how Canberra's season pans out, but last night's win sure looked the real deal and, straight away, after scoring what was their first win of the season, the Raiders were talking like they were going to be anything but passengers.

Asked what he thought the team was capable of this season, lock and captain Alan Tongue replied: "The sky's the limit, I think. But we've already talked about not getting carried away. One day at a time, one week at a time."

Raiders fullback William Zillman, who was a three-try hero last night, thought his skipper was right on the money, and used the Wests Tigers model from 2005, when that team won the premiership, as an example of how quickly a good young team can rise.

"I agree with Tonguey," Zillman said. "We're not worried about what other people say. We've got to take it one game at a time, but at the same time we're not going to put any limits on ourselves. Wests Tigers were in a similar position a couple of years ago."

Newcastle seemed to be on their game early, and winger Adam MacDougall scored in the corner in the eighth minute after Johns had put the defence under pressure with a great long ball. But soon afterwards, Canberra took control of the game through a combination of a rugged forward approach, speed out wide, tremendous support play and Newcastle mistakes.

They hit back with the next 16 points, and Newcastle never led outright again, although they did draw level at 18-18 early in the second half. Canberra went into overdrive again after that, blowing the Knights off the park with tries in the 53rd, 59th, 63rd, 68th and 79th minutes.

It was an unhappy comeback for Johns, whose four minutes in round one was his only previous football this year. He did not play in any pre-season trials because of a hamstring injury and was then knocked unconscious by a high tackle from Bulldogs forward Sonny Bill Williams.

Johns did a few good things, but made just as many mistakes. He is going to need time to get his game into gear, but if history is any guide it won't take him too long. Asked to comment on the performance by Johns, Newcastle coach Brian Smith said: "It wasn't his best game, but we were all on the back foot. Andrew will play better next week and I'm sure other guys will, too."

The rust in Johns is expected to put talk about him making himself available to play for NSW in the State of Origin series on the backburner, for the time being at least. Asked whether he thought Johns would be better off forgetting about Origin for now, Smith replied: "That's not a decision for me."

Johns was obviously disappointed with the result and not available for interview afterwards. The result was a big turnaround from last season's clash between the teams at this ground, when the Knights won 70-32.

Smith conceded Canberra were better than Newcastle on the night, adding: "They were more hungry and more intense. It's very disappointing."

CANBERRA 48 (W Zillman 3, C Best, M Chalk, P Graham, S Logan, L Withers tries; M Dobson 8 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 18 (A MacDougall, C Paterson, M Thaiday tries; A Johns 3 goals) at Canberra Stadium. Referee: B Cummins. Crowd: 13,109.