Canterbury are enjoying their best start to a NRL season in over 30 years after grinding their way past a depleted Newcastle outfit to claim a 20-0 win.

Second-half tries from Josh Curran, Jack Todd and Kurt Mann got the Bulldogs home at Accor Stadium on Sunday where an impressive crowd of 24,113 were on hand to witness the 'Dogs go 5-0 to start the season.

Not since 1993, a year in which they won the minor premiership, have Canterbury started a season so strongly.

Sitting in first spot, they will enjoy a bye ahead of a bumper Good Friday clash with South Sydney in which five-eighth Matt Burton and barnstorming back-rower Viliame Kikau are both expected to return.

Many would have expected the Bulldogs to endure a dip when Burton and Kikau limped out of their round two clash with Gold Coast, but it is to their credit that they have barely missed a beat.

"I think if I could sum up our performance, I thought it was really professional," said coach Cameron Ciraldo.

"We put a lot into them in the first half and came out in the second half and played our style of game.

"We'll look back on the attack and think we could have done better but I'm really happy with how our defence is building."

It didn't help Newcastle's hopes of ending Canterbury's unbeaten start that they lost two men inside the opening two minutes.

Winger James Schiller failed a head injury assessment after a head clash with Bulldogs front-rower Daniel Suluka-Fifita before Knights prop Jacob Saifiti limped off 30 seconds later with a suspected calf injury.

Phoenix Crossland spent ten minutes in the bin for a second-half trip, and when Jack Hetherington succumbed to a shoulder injury in the 46th minute coach Adam O'Brien was left with just 14 fit bodies.

Halfback Jack Cogger played most of the game with a dislocated finger that would not go back in.

"We've won before, and I haven't been proud of the performance," O'Brien said.

"We didn't get the result but I think when you you look back later on over time, you see 20-0 scoreline, you'll probably think that we didn't play well.

"But I'm really proud of them to go through what they did."

What they lacked in fluidity, Newcastle made up for in spirit and effort with Bradman Best leading the charge in a back-and-forth battle with Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton.

Crichton's fourth-minute penalty goal - the result of an illegal Tyson Frizell strip on Max King - was all that separated the two sides at the interval.

It took until the 42nd minute for Canterbury to find a way through with Jacob Kiraz batting back a Toby Sexton kick, which Curran patted down to finish.

Soon after Crossland was sin-binned, interchange prop Todd grabbed his first NRL try by hitting a short line against a retreating defence.

The Knights hung in the fight but Mann's 70th-minute barge-over in his 200th NRL game condemned them to defeat.