The middle-aged bloke with the wide-awake ears sitting in the corner of the Wickham Park Hotel in Newcastle with his son on Sunday afternoon watching the Knights v Penrith? It’s not just another bloke.
This is Stephen Crowe, who has many claims to fame – not the least being that he was a member of the famous premiership-winning team of 1997, when the Steel City side beat their much-fancied opponents and minor premiers Manly in one of the most thrilling grand finals of all time after winger Darren Albert crossed the stripe with six seconds to go.
So while on this Sunday arvo everyone else was shouting, cheering, carrying on with every twist and turn of the game, Crowe – as one of the “Kings of the ’Castle of 1997” – was just a little more reserved. He is not just a fan; he is a Knight himself, and feels it in his very bones.
He is not just getting an impression of what is going on; he knows what is going on. He’s been out there, done it all, experienced it all.
And that is why, in the 36th minute, when Knights hooker Phoenix Crossland is sent off for a hip-drop tackle that breaks the ankle of Nathan Cleary, Crowe stands up and, without a word, leaves.
He knows there is only one thing to do. He must walk home. In the rain. Looking for stones to kick. He is resolved not to watching another minute of this disaster in football boots. Red Rover, it’s over. And so are the Knights.
“Of course I did,” Crowe, now the Hunter director of the Property Council of Australia, said on Monday morning about leaving the pub mid-match.
“Just 12 Knights, up against Penrith for the entire second half, with a grand final appearance in the balance? Anyone who knows anything about football knew that just couldn’t be done. No team with 12 men could withstand that onslaught.”
But now, the strangest thing.
Thoroughly soaked, he keeps walking, and the phone he is trying to keep dry in the inside pocket of his jacket keeps pinging. Be buggered. He refuses to look at it until he gets into the shelter of the back porch and shakes himself like a dog to throw off the sheets of water.
And now he sees the texts.
“Can you believe it?”
“Mate, they’re holding on!”
“Unbelievable!”
Racing inside, with no time to worry about wetting the couch, he turns on the tube to watch the rest of the “Miracle at Accor” unfolding.
With just 12 good men and true, the Knights are withstanding the onslaught, just like they did in 1997 – and again in 2001, when Crowe was the team’s media man. In fact, they’re unleashing an onslaught of their own, in front of 57,000 fans, at least half of whom had descended on Sydney from the ’Castle.
“Never seen anything like it,” Crowe said dreamily. “My phone hasn’t stopped pinging and ringing since. It is just like it was in 97. The whole town is talking about it. Everyone wants tickets. Everyone is just stunned [by] what they’ve been able to do, all while starting the season as last year’s wooden spooners.”
And, of course, Crowe was not the only one of the 1997 Old Boys watching on with amazement.
Robbie O’Davis, the fullback and Clive Churchill medal winner in that 1997 team was watching at the Belmont Hotel, and took a different approach to Crowe.
“I was the biggest cheerer, the loudest booer and the biggest cuddler,” O’Davis said with a laugh. “And yes, it was grim after the send-off. But I thought there was still a chance. Back in 1997, we made enormous ground attacking out on the edges with Matthew and Andrew Johns throwing 30-metre passes to our wingers.
“I thought with [coach] Justin Holbrook’s style being to also attack on the edges – but with Kalyn Ponga sweeping it out there to get the ball to the sideline – we could still do the same. And that is what happened. I’ve never cheered or cuddled more! It was Johns stuff, 30 years later …”
In the commentary box for Channel Nine, Andrew Johns himself leapt to his feet as, with 25 seconds to go, Sandon Smith intercepted a pass for what may have been the winning try for Penrith, before racing towards the far try line with three frantic Panthers in hot pursuit.
Forget his commentary duties, Johns punched his fist in the air, started laboriously breathing in and out as if he was the halfback suffering with every step – for he actually was – and when Smith scored, to put the outcome beyond doubt, Johns slumped into his seat and wept.
How did you feel, Andrew?
Andrew …?
I think he’s still weeping.
So is Albert, the hero of 1997, who was watching it with his wife and son in their Gold Coast home, where he now works in electrical systems for the local council.
“Sandon’s try was every bit as good as my try, and better,” he said emotionally, 24 hours later. “I was crying, and am still teary thinking about it!”
And the victorious hooker-lock from the 1997 and 2001 premiership teams, Bill Peden? He was in the western stand at Accor with his partner, and equally devastated when Crossland was sent off – not just for the Knights, but for the fact that his daughter, Mia, goes out with Phoenix, and, “I knew there was no intent in it. But it was clear the game was over. To think you could beat a team like Penrith …with just 12 men was ludicrous. I was tempted to just leave.”
‘I saw Justin Holbrook in the dressing room after the match, and he reckoned it was the Knights’ best win ever. There’s no argument from any of us.’
Bill Peden, a member of the Knights’ 1997 premiership winning team
Fortunately, in his case, walking home to Newcastle, where he now operates heavy machinery at the coal port, loading ships, was even more ludicrous than the idea that the Knights could win. So he stayed.
“Never seen anything like it,” he said flatly on Monday morning, as he was sitting down for a coffee with fellow premiership winner Mark Hughes.
“I saw Justin Holbrook in the dressing room after the match, and he said he reckoned it was the Knights’ best win ever. There’s no argument from any of us.”
Certainly not from Tony Butterfield, the hardest-working forward of the 1997 side. Having retired after running a successful business, he was watching up on the Central Coast, with a bunch of mates who support Penrith.
“I’ve always said that to win a match, defence is more important than flashy offence,” Butterfield said. “It is great to run hard at someone again and again, and takes a lot of courage, but what takes more courage is to run and stop blokes who are running at you, again and again. And they did it.
“That was one of the great defensive performances of all time, certainly the equal of anything we ever did, and even greater. I got very emotional when the game was over.”
To a man, they will all be there on Sunday for the grand final, most of them sitting together and remembering back to when they were Kings of the ’Castle, and hoping the 2026 Knights can do it again.
If they can, going wooden spooners to premiers in successive seasons, it will be one of the great stories of Australian sport.
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Peter FitzSimons is a journalist and columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X.From our partners
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