{"id":908261,"date":"2026-09-28T06:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T06:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908261\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T06:48:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T06:48:46","slug":"major-trains-boost-for-knights-historic-grand-final-newcastle-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908261\/","title":{"rendered":"Major trains boost for Knights’ historic grand final | Newcastle Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JustJust like their season, Knights supporters are back on track for the NRL grand final. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n

Plans to stage nightmare trackworks that would separate Newcastle’s passionate fans from the NRL grand final have been dumped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands of Novocastrians are expected to make the near-160km journey after a fairytale triumph over Penrith at the weekend to head to their first decider since 2001.<\/p>\n

But planned weekend trackworks drove fears of travel carnage, after some Knights fans faced four-hour trips from the Steel City to Sydney for Sunday’s fairytale preliminary final triumph over Penrith.<\/p>\n

Buses were slated to replace trains between the Newcastle Interchange and Gosford on grand final day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LeagueLeague fans will be able to take the train straight from Newcastle to Sydney’s Central station. (Bianca De Marchi\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

On Monday, Transport for NSW confirmed it would dump the maintenance plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Sydney Trains is also working on a plan to add extra Intercity train services between Newcastle and Sydney on Sunday … we hope to announce details shortly,” a spokesperson told AAP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The change of heart means fans can take the train straight from Newcastle to Sydney’s Central station.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That call came after Knights supporters fumed over nearly-doubled travel times preceding Newcastle’s clash with Penrith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some fans’ typically-two-hour journey took twice as long, after a broken-down freight train meant hundreds were trapped at stations on an already chaotic transport day.<\/p>\n

Train users were forced onto replacement buses from the NSW central coast – although shocking highway traffic ensured a frustrating trip for all involved.<\/p>\n

\"FrancisFrancis Manuleleua (centre) says the team turned it on for travelling supporters. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Newcastle coach Justin Holbrook appreciated their dedication.\u00a0<\/p>\n

”Thinking about how many fans came down and the trains stopped and the buses and the traffic and it took them four hours to get there,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

”I wanted to thank them, so I ran around the field and it was so special, we want to make our community proud, our Hunter region.”<\/p>\n

Opening try-scorer Francis Manuleleua agreed the team turned it on for supporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

”Everyone travelled and it took four hours to get here with train delays and everything, so we had to pay them back with that performance,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"It'sIt’s been a big year for the Knights, just a year after the team collected a wooden spoon. (Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The Knights claimed their historic eight-point victory in front of 57,000 on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Newcastle collected the wooden spoon just a year back and have not seen a grand final in a quarter of a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Sydney Roosters will take on Newcastle at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Sunday evening with the stage set for a classic showdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around 80,000 fans are expected to attend the NRLW and NRL grand finals at 4pm and 7.30pm respectively.<\/p>\n

Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just like their season, Knights supporters are back on track for the NRL grand final. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-908261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}