Incredible detail in Knights revival revealed as Newcastle eyes 92-year first
The Newcastle Knights – shall we call them Holbrook’s Heroes? – could be on the verge of achieving what’s only been done once in the 118-year history of Australian first-grade rugby league.
That is, going from wooden spooners to premiers in back-to-back seasons, an extraordinarily rare feat managed only by Western Suburbs Magpies way back in 1934.
Knights coach Justin Holbrook and his players greeting fans during grand final week. Ayush Kumar/Getty Images
The question beckons: how in Andrew Johns′ Immortal name have the Knights got here?
Knights’ rare slice of history
Justin Holbrook’s team has become only the fifth club in the competition’s history to qualify for a grand final a year after collecting a wooden spoon.
It’s happened for the first time since 2010, when the Roosters – the Knights’ opponent at Accor Stadium on Sunday night – played in a grand final against the Dragons but lost 32-8.
Many moons earlier, St George went from cellar dwellers to grand finalists in 1927, before Newtown followed suit in 1929.
Western Suburbs beat Eastern Suburbs 15-12 in the 1934 NSWRL grand final to be crowned premiers a year after finishing last – but as always, context is important.
The Magpies were tracking well in 1933 before five of their stars headed off to Great Britain mid-year for a tour with the Kangaroos, leaving their club team to collapse in a heap.
With all but one of their Kangaroos stars back in the fold in 1934, the Magpies were expected to be a premiership force.
Suffice to say, the same could not be said about the Knights heading into 2026, after a miserable 2025 campaign ended with the exit of Adam O’Brien and a wooden spoon.
An improbable premiership shot
Newcastle bought star playmaker Dylan Brown in the off-season, prising him away from Parramatta on a 10-year deal worth $13 million, but has reached the grand final without the Kiwi international after he went down with an ACL rupture in round 21.
The Knights have also got here without their two best front-rowers. Trey Mooney suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in round 26, and Jacob Saifiti copped a season-ending ban stemming from the same game.
Then came the loss of starting hooker Phoenix Crossland, who left the Knights with only 12 men on the park in the preliminary final against the powerhouse Panthers after he was sent off in the 36th minute. He won’t be running out on Sunday night, having received a four-match ban.
And, of course, the Knights have had to win three sudden-death matches to slay their way to grand final week, having finished seventh.
Newcastle superstar Kalyn Ponga. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
On Sunday night, they meet the star-studded Roosters. The likes of James Tedesco, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Daly Cherry-Evans, Sam Walker, Reece Robson, Lindsay Collins, Victor Radley and Angus Crichton.
The Knights have their own stars – Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best are their standouts – but are more grit than glamour.
Wests Tigers′ triumph in 2005 is widely regarded as the most improbable premiership win of the NRL era, which stretches back to 1998.
They didn’t qualify for a single finals series in their first five years as a joint venture, and were floundering in 12th on the ladder as late as round 16 of the 2005 season.
Come the end of the regular season, Tim Sheens′ team was fourth.
Come the end of the decider, Benji Marshall and Pat Richards had linked up for an iconic grand final try and the Tigers were premiers.
Would a Knights win on Sunday rank as more improbable than the Tigers’ of 2005? Many would sway that way.
And how would it stack up against “The Miracle of ’55”?
South Sydney had a champion side in the 1950s – a team that won four premierships between 1950 and 1954 – but the Rabbitohs’ 1955 season was derailed by a heavy injury toll, they were written off as too battered and too old, and they tumbled down the ladder.
The Knights en route to collecting the 2025 wooden spoon. Jason McCawley/Getty Images
Legendary fullback Clive Churchill, one of the four original rugby league Immortals, broke his wrist early in Souths’ round 17 game.
He battled on valiantly against Manly and slotted a sideline conversion to win the game in the dying stages – doing it all with a cardboard splint – but didn’t play again that season.
Despite that, Souths kept on winning.
They won 11 consecutive sudden-death games to clinch the premiership.
Incredible detail in Knights revival
The Knights’ attack has caught fire in 2026.
In 2025, they scored only 338 points. This season, finals included, they have racked up 687.
They have also scored 124 tries this season, more than double the 61 they chalked up last year.
And the Knights are now an attacking beast from their own half of the field.
Knights winger Dominic Young in grand final week. Michael Gorton/Getty Images
They scored only three tries from their side of halfway last season. This season, they have scored 39. They sit first in that metric by a long way, well clear of the Raiders (23).
It’s an incredible detail in Newcastle’s resurgence.
Interestingly, the Knights’ defensive statistics have only improved marginally in 2026, although they have conceded only two tries in each of their three finals matches.
Holbrook keeping romance alive
Holbrook played five first-grade games for Newcastle across 1999 and 2000. He partnered Matty Johns in the halves on all five occasions, filling in as the back-up halfback for Andrew Johns.
More than two decades later, he is back at the Knights and looking to mastermind their first grand final win since 2001.
The former Gold Coast coach, who was sacked by the Titans mid-season in 2023, has had a remarkable first season in charge at Newcastle.
Romanticism in rugby league is not yet dead.
