Knights hope for Hollywood ending to story that started in Vegas

There has been something different about these Newcastle Knights from the moment they kicked off the 2026 NRL season under the bright lights of Las Vegas.

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On the last day of February, with new coach Justin Holbrook holding the reins, the 2025 wooden-spooners - starting in the all-too-familiar role of underdogs - upset the North Queensland Cowboys 28-18 at Allegiant Stadium.

Newcastle players, a handful of Knights Old Boys along for the ride, and thousands of adoring fans who made the trip to the Vegas Strip were bullish and buoyant.

Not just about the season-opening victory under Holbrook, himself a Knights Old Boy, but about the way the team played.

The smiles on their faces.

The spring in their step.

Captain Kalyn Ponga was excited, enthusiastic, engaged.

Appropriately, for Vegas, Ponga looked all-in.

Kalyn Ponga makes a break at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Picture Getty Images

A few weeks later, after a 32-12 victory over 2025 minor premiers Canberra in Newcastle that ended a seven-game home losing streak, prop Jacob Saifiti spoke of the belief and brotherhood that Holbrook and assistant coaches Steven Hales, Brett White and Danny Buderus had instilled among the players since taking charge last November.

"Our biggest strengths this year are how connected we are as a group and the belief we have in the systems that Justin's put in place," Saifiti told NRL.com.

"The buy-in from the players and the club has been unreal, and we're reaping the rewards now. It's still a long season, it's only round five, but there's some good signs there."

Those "good signs" shone brighter the longer the season went.

Despite losing key figures to injury and suspension at various stages, the Knights kept finding ways to win, playing with panache and pizzazz.

After going scoreless for entire halves in so many games last year, they have run in more long-range tries than any other side in the NRL.

Speaking after his team pipped Newcastle 23-22 at McDonald Jones Stadium on July 24, Roosters coach Trent Robinson heaped praise on Holbrook, his former Roosters assistant, for putting some spark back into the Knights' attack.

The Knights were enjoying their footy again, Robinson said, and so were their supporters.

Star recruit Dylan Brown suffered a season-ending knee injury that night, and back-rower Dylan Lucas sustained an ankle injury that sidelined him until a fortnight ago, but Holbrook would not allow those setbacks to derail their campaign.

Brown and Lucas in August. Picture AAP

The mindset remained the same when starting props Trey Mooney (fractured scapula) and Saifiti (suspended) were sidelined for the rest of the year after the last game of the regular season against the Warriors five weeks ago.

Newcastle were given little hope of progressing past the resurgent Rabbitohs in the first week of the finals but prevailed 20-10 at Accor Stadium, then eliminated the Warriors 12-10 in front of 48,000 rabid New Zealand fans at Eden Park two weeks ago.

Despite having Phoenix Crossland sent off in the 36th minute of the preliminary final last Sunday and being reduced to 12 men, they out-scored the mighty Panthers 16-0 in the second half to win 22-14 and qualify for Sunday's grand final against the Roosters.

"The best win in the history of rugby league", as described by Holbrook in his dressing-room speech on Sunday, sent success-starved Novocastrians into a state of euphoria.

Hunter punters basking in another "better than Lego" moment have painted the town red and blue, and bought up every piece of available Knights merchandise.

More than 12,000 fans turned up to the team's open training session on Wednesday.

Knights players at Wednesday's open training session. Picture by Marina Neil

Those without a ticket to Sunday's sold-out grand final will gather at the McDonald Jones Stadium live site, pack into a pub or club, or squash around a TV with family and friends.

In the 25 years since their last grand final appearance, Knights players and fans have endured long stretches of suffering, emphasised by the wooden-spoon years of 2005, 2015, 2016, 2017, and as recently as last season.

The years under Nathan Tinkler's ownership were better known for deceit and disappointment, and former coaches Nathan Brown then Adam O'Brien were left to pick up the pieces in a seemingly endless period of rebuilding.

Wayne Bennett and Nathan Tinkler. Picture by Darren Pateman

A handful of finals appearances usually ended in first-round defeats.

Most fans would have accepted that as an honourable result this year after the Knights ran last in 2025, but this team that plays without fear, this team that has reconnected with the community they represent, are chasing the ultimate prize.

For themselves and for their people.

When the Knights won the ARL grand final in 1997, Paul Harragon's men inspired and invigorated a blue-collar town battling to come to terms with the impending closure of BHP, and gave this resilient city something special to celebrate in its Bicentennial year.

Oh, yes, and they united the game of rugby league.

Newcastle's last-gasp 22-16 victory over Manly not only snapped an 11-game losing streak to the silvertail Sea Eagles, it effectively ended the two-and-a-half-year Super League war.

Four years on, in the NRL's first night grand final, the Knights won their first unified premiership by beating Parramatta 30-24. This validated the ARL title they had won in the split season of 1997, and once again left Novocastrians in the grip of Knight Fever.

In both deciders, the Knights were despised outsiders, given little chance by all but their diehard fans, as will again be the case against the Roosters on Sunday.

Ben Kennedy during the 2001 grand final. Picture AAP

But this is a Newcastle team of grit and guts.

Of resilience and self-belief.

All heart, no hand-brake.

Knights Old Boys have long shared war stories about their glory years of 1997 and 2001.

When fans lined the streets to see them off to Sydney on the eve of battle, then welcomed them home and shared the spoils during days, even weeks, of victory celebrations.

Now this current band of blue-and-red brothers have seen similar scenes and are primed to make their own memories to last a life-time.

These Knights of 2026 have restored pride and passion in the jersey, and given hope to a generation of players and fans who could be forgiven for forgetting what it felt like to play for or cheer for a successful Newcastle footy team.

Knights players mingle with fans at McDonald Jones Stadium. Picture by Marina Neil

So, as we count down the hours to kick-off against the Roosters, to borrow a few lines from former Newcastle Herald Sports Editor Kevin Cranson's front-page editorial published the day after the Knights won the 1997 grand final, do not believe this is only a football game.

Believe instead that this is a defining moment in our town's history. And give thanks to our boys, for not only will they bear our town's name, they will wear its heart on their sleeves.

And dare to dream that on Sunday night in Sydney, 25 years since Andrew Johns raised the NRL trophy above his head, this worst-to-first footy fairytale, this feel-good story that started in Las Vegas eight months ago, can have a Hollywood ending.

Brett Keeble was the Newcastle Herald's rugby league reporter from 1992 to 2015, which included covering the Knights' grand final wins in 1997 and 2001. Keeble continues to report on Knights home games for NRL.com, the NRL's official website.

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