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Knights captain Kalyn Ponga at full-time in the NRL grand final.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n
Kalyn Ponga<\/a> grappled with the two contrasting emotions as he was interviewed by Johnathan Thurston<\/a> \u2013 a man who\u2019s tasted both defeat and victory on the grand final stage \u2013 after Sunday night\u2019s decider at Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hurts so much,\u201d Ponga said on Nine, his voice trembling.<\/p>\n In a show of deep appreciation for their beloved team, tens of thousands of Knights fans remained in the stands long after the full-time siren.<\/p>\n As Thurston announced Ponga\u2019s name at the start of the interview, which was broadcast through the loud speakers, the Knights faithful let out a thunderous roar.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we did them proud, but the ultimate goal is to win a comp,\u201d the superstar fullback said.<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t thank you (Knights fans) enough for your support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n It was well documented that the Knights had already defied ridiculous odds<\/a> in clawing their way to the grand final.<\/p>\n They had managed to do so despite collecting the wooden spoon last year, despite finishing seventh this season, despite the loss of their halfback and boom $13 million recruit Dylan Brown<\/a>, and despite the absence of their first-choice props and hooker.<\/p>\n They had played more than half of their preliminary final showdown against the mighty Panthers<\/a> with only 12 men on the park because Phoenix Crossland, New Zealand\u2019s Test hooker, was sent off.<\/p>\n In a valiant losing cause in the club\u2019s first NRL<\/a> grand final appearance in 25 years, they defied the odds some more, scoring a try and converting to cut the deficit to one point with three minutes to go despite having been decimated on the stats sheet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s astonishing, really,\u201d Andrew Johns<\/a>, the greatest and most iconic player in Knights history, said on Nine at full-time.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the stats, they should have got rolled by 50. But they hung in, and got rolled by one point. I still can\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Roosters had 57 per cent of possession. They also won the completion battle 90 per cent to 77, racked up 2092 run metres to the Knights\u2019 1427, made 61 tackle breaks to 22, and forced three goal-line dropouts to zero.<\/p>\n Johns remarked repeatedly throughout the second half that the Knights were out on their feet.<\/p>\n At one point, as the visibly exhausted Newcastle forwards flagged and the likes of James Tedesco<\/a>, Mark Nawaqanitawase<\/a>, Sam Walker<\/a> and Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> licked their lips, Johns warned Knights fans that the night could get ugly.<\/p>\n But as they had done time and again throughout their unexpected 2026 charge, especially in three sudden-death finals matches, the Knights refused to lie down.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no right to be anywhere near this game, the Knights,\u201d Johns said, watching on stunned after Greg Marzhew crossed on the left wing in the 77th minute to make it a one-point game.<\/p>\n Kalyn Ponga and his Knights were out on their feet.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n If Newcastle had ended up plucking the game from the fire, Ponga\u2019s darting run in the lead-up to Marzhew\u2019s try and Francis Manuleleua\u2019s flick pass would be the stuff of legend, much like the magic conjured by Johns and Darren Albert to win the 1997 ARL decider.<\/p>\n \u201cFans, you should be so proud of this team,\u201d the eighth Immortal added.<\/p>\n The Roosters had 11 current or past State of Origin players on the park on Sunday night.<\/p>\n Newcastle didn\u2019t have half as many.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s disappointing for Knights fans, but this was one of the most courageous efforts I\u2019ve seen,\u201d Johns stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m definitely proud of this club, this community,\u201d said Ponga.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super proud. (We got) the wooden spoon last year. If you had said we were playing in the grand final, I would have said you were kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n Knights fans inside Accor Stadium on Sunday night.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n Johns, who steered Newcastle to premiership glory in 1997 and 2001, had more to say in the bowels of Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just hung in and hung in and hung in. And then towards the end, they could have stolen it late. An incredible effort,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cCouldn\u2019t be any more proud of the players and everyone at the club, and the way the fans have rallied the last couple of weeks, in particular this week.<\/p>\n \u201cKalyn said in his speech: \u2018We\u2019ll be back\u2019. I have no doubt they\u2019ll be back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, the Knights and their staunch army of supporters will sit with heartbreak and pride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sport is synonymous with heartbreak and pride. In the aftermath of Newcastle\u2019s 19-18 grand final loss to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-916357","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\/916357","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=916357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8538f3e41326b158897e7ea4f6bae6f21f5359eb.jpeg\")
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