Newcastle find themselves the NRL’s fairytale team after scarcely believable return to glory | Nick Tedeschi - mahjong

The Knights’ incredible preliminary final win over the Penrith Panthers showcased everything Justin Holbrook has done to turn the club around

Few teams have been mired in mediocrity longer than the Newcastle Knights, a club from a region that few dispute is the heartland of rugby league in Australia. They are built on the legend of Andrew “Joey” Johns and Paul “Chief” Harragon and so many others but have, for the better part of the last quarter-century, been an irrelevance.

No more. After one of the most compelling, controversial and climactic preliminary finals in the history of the game, the Knights are on their way to the 2026 NRL grand final just 12 months after claiming their fourth wooden spoon in 11 seasons. Hollywood’s finest scriptwriter could not have written the story of Newcastle’s rise over the last year – and even the most creative could not have put together what will live in folklore as one of the most dramatic grand final qualifiers the game has seen.

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