There’s a photo in the Knights dressing room up in Newcastle that sums up their fantastic rise from wooden spooners to possibly a preliminary final in less than 12 months.
My great mate Danny Buderus has been assistant coach this year on Justin Holbrook’s staff. “Bedsy” told me this week that all the way back in round one, under the bright lights of Las Vegas, is when they actually realised they might really be onto something.
The Knights arrived in Sin City not so much under scrutiny as written off entirely. There was just so much uncertainty around their spine, how star signing Dylan Brown would fit in, how they would play and, of course, they were wooden spooners after all.
And I was asking all these questions.
So when Kalyn Ponga played with a determination and a look in his eye that no one had really seen before, and Newcastle upset the highly fancied Cowboys 28-18 at Allegiant Stadium, the celebration photo afterwards told everyone at the club about where they were heading.
Ponga, club officials tell me, had been completing a post-game interview, and so he was slightly late to walk over and join his teammates. You can’t see the captain’s face in the photo, but you don’t need to.
Every other player’s face – pure exhaustion and exhilaration – tells the story. Which is why the Knights had that photo blown up and plastered all over their home dressing room, and took it down to Allianz Stadium last week for their rollicking week-one upset of the Rabbitohs.
The plan is to take the same shot over to Auckland’s Eden Park for Sunday’s sold-out semi-final against the Warriors – where I think the Knights can leave 50,000 rabid Kiwi fans heartbroken with another finals upset for the ages.
Frankly, I’m stunned at how quickly the club has risen from the depths we hit last year.
It was almost exactly one year ago that I was writing cranky columns about how to rebuild Newcastle from the ground up – but only after rediscovering the Knights’ DNA and fixing 20 years of mismanagement.
This column is much more fun.
‘Sully’ the signings genius and the Knights DNA
From the outside looking in, everything at Newcastle has changed: the club, their junior pathways, the recruitment plans, their style of play, and as a team and club, they’ve rediscovered the DNA that makes Newcastle what it is.
Credit is due to so many people. But for me, recruitment manager Peter O’Sullivan deserves the biggest rap. His achievements across more than 20 years as a talent scout speak for themselves.
And while signing big names is one thing, Sully’s calling card has always been his eye for young talent before anyone else has identified it, or landing the best schoolboy stars before anyone else can.
I could sit here all day naming his greatest hits. At Melbourne, he found Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Greg Inglis. At the Roosters, it was Latrell Mitchell, Boyd Cordner (both out of Newcastle’s traditional catchment) and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
He helped build the Warriors’ line-up with guys such as Leka Halasima and Ali Leiataua, and at the Dolphins he built their inaugural roster – so that’s everyone from Isaiya Katoa to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth.
Since arriving at Newcastle last year, O’Sullivan obviously took a big punt on Dylan Brown with his 10-year deal and brought Dom Young back from the Roosters. He signed Sandon Smith and front-rower Trey Mooney, brought in Harrison Graham and turned over an underperforming roster quicker than anyone expected.
Sully’s contribution is huge. He knows what winning looks like and his track record speaks for itself.
Digging deeper than the NRL squad, Alex McKinnon’s return to the club’s pathways program this year has been big as well.
Now, when the Knights were founded in 1988, coach Allan McMahon, understudy David Waite and juniors coach Keith Onslow knew Newcastle wouldn’t be able to compete with the rich Sydney clubs. So the 10-year plan was that by 1998, 75 per cent of the Newcastle side would be locals.
In 1997, we won the club’s first premiership with 11 of the 17 players in the grand final team local juniors. It was the same number in 2001.
Newcastle’s catchment stretches from the coalfields, where I’m from, to the Upper Hunter, the Central Coast and Mid North Coast – all rugby league-mad areas. And when you harness that, identify the best talent and coach the ears off them with a foundation of footy basics, that’s how you build our Knights DNA.
This year Newcastle had six players from the region in the Australian schoolboys side. The Knights won the Harold Matts (under-17s) grand final, finished as runners-up in the SG Ball (under-19s) and can book a spot in the NSW Cup decider if they beat Newtown this Saturday afternoon.
Most importantly, these kids are being coached again in a style that resonates right across the board as Newcastle’s way of playing.
Unlocking Kalyn Ponga the leader
Then of course, there’s Justin Holbrook. The attitude towards attack and confidence they’re playing with are plain to see, and again, I’m slightly stunned by how quickly it has all swung around.
This isn’t a knock on Adam O’Brien – he instilled defensive resolve into the Knights and finished with a strong finals record himself. But the fact they’ve scored an NRL-high 31 tries from their own half says it all.
Newcastle are playing to their strengths, and playing without fear. And Ponga, the central figure in that photo in the MacDonald Jones Stadium dressing room, is at the centre of it all.
People look at Kalyn and see a casual, laid-back character. There’s a perception that he doesn’t care as much as he should. But I think his outlook has changed and fed throughout the group.
Bedsy talks about the difference in Newcastle’s players between 2025 (wooden spoon) and 2026 (finals week two and still kicking) and he sees a group that’s matured, grown in confidence and been together for a while. He also sees a group that’s experienced failure and known how much that hurts, and learnt the price you have to pay to win.
I think you could be talking about 30 players, or just one – Kalyn Ponga. And that photo sums it up.
Kalyn led Newcastle that day in Las Vegas and ever since, his senior forwards, veteran guys and forward leaders like Jacob Saifiti, Tyson Frizell and Dylan Lucas have fallen in alongside him, with the younger players picking up on their attitude and hard work.
I don’t know if there is a premiership in the Knights this year. But I do think the premiership window is now open for the next two or three seasons at least, and the club’s foundations are looking much more solid beyond that, too.
Why I’m tipping a Knights boilover
This weekend, it’s a huge challenge travelling across to Auckland, make no mistake. But I have to say, all the pressure is on the Warriors.
And I thought all that pressure rattled them last week against the Dolphins. A sold-out Eden Park will only amplify that. There is so much support behind the Warriors right across the game and deservedly so.
But I wonder if it all played a part in how they conceded uncharacteristic penalties and made errors last week when the Dolphins applied the blowtorch.
I also think the Knights’ attacking play worries the Warriors’ steady, high-percentage game plan. A few weeks ago, Newcastle were leading 16-0 after Saifiti was sent off at Go Media Stadium, and they still pushed the home side to 46-32.
Manly and the Dolphins are also happy to shift the ball wide whenever they sniff half a chance, so in the past three games, the Warriors have been troubled by aggressive, opportunistic attacks.
Confidence and belief is a funny thing in sport. Sometimes, you have no idea where it comes from, and just as quickly, where it’s gone.
I can certainly see the Knights playing with real belief in themselves, and I wonder if the Warriors’ confidence has been rattled at just the wrong time of the year.
Newcastle are outsiders, of course, but they’ve got an entire city and rugby league-mad region behind them. And whatever the scoreboard says at full-time, it’s already been a remarkable season for everyone involved at the club – from CEO Peter Parr and football director Chris James to the assistant coach at the under-17s, and everyone in between.
It’s been a great year to be part of the Knights’ DNA.
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Andrew Johns is an Immortal, a Newcastle great and a commentator for Channel NineFrom our partners
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