\u201cIt\u2019s a hard-working area and you want to see that in your rugby league team, that\u2019ll never change.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was Justin Holbrook outlining his vision for the Knights during his introductory press conference as coach last September.<\/p>\n
A former Newcastle halfback who served as Andrew Johns\u2019 backup and played alongside Danny Buderus, Matt Gidley and Robbie O\u2019Davis, Holbrook has made it his mission to reconnect the team to its community.<\/p>\n
Words, however, can ring hollow without tangible action.<\/p>\n
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Holbrook: “A big part of our fanbase is people who work in the mines”<\/p>\n
On January 13, Holbrook\u2019s 50th birthday, the Knights showed through actions how they plan to represent the Hunter.<\/p>\n
The coach took the playing group down the Myuna Colliery mine to see firsthand how the region\u2019s people live and work.<\/p>\n
It was an eye-opening experience for the squad and the day the first steps were taken on a path that will culminate in Sunday\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty surreal,\u201d veteran Tyson Frizell told NRL.com. \u201cMining is in the DNA of this town. Everyone wants to have a connection to their town and what better way than to go down there and genuinely understand what people go through and what they do for a living.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir days are spent with no technology, no social media and the enjoyment they get on a Monday morning is talking about how the Knights went on the weekend. To see that and hear it from the guys down there was a cool experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given they finished last year with the wooden spoon, few expected the Knights to be playing in a grand final just 12 months after Holbrook\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
The coach, however, was always confident of what this team could achieve and carries that same belief into Sunday\u2019s decider against the Roosters at a sold-out Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n
From that first trip down the mine shaft, the Knights have slowly built a wave of fan support that will reach a crescendo this weekend.<\/p>\n
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Grand Final emotions after 12-man win<\/p>\n
More than 12,000 fans turned out for Wednesday\u2019s open training session, thousands more will make the two-hour trip down the M1 to Accor Stadium and 25,000 supporters will pack into McDonald Jones Stadium to watch their team on the big screen.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been impossible to avoid grand final fever across the Hunter throughout the past week, from the mines to the dairy farms and everywhere in between.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing down the mines was a real eye-opener,\u201d forward Mat Croker, who grew up on a dairy farm, said. \u201cWe speak a lot about how this town has a mining culture and these blokes save up their money all week to come to a Knights game.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we went down there, it drew a real connection for a lot of the boys. We\u2019ve brought it up a fair bit this year. How we can make these people proud. These are people that have tougher lives than we\u2019ve got as footy players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility to make sure they have a good week by going out and performing well. A lot of them are having much better weeks now and I bet they are underground now talking about the grand final on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond connecting with the community, the Knights have also made a concerted effort to rebuild their junior pathways.<\/p>\n
Director of football Chris James was brought in with a mission to establish a pipeline between the region\u2019s fertile nursery of juniors all the way through to the NRL team.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a path Croker followed as a teenager, the Nabiac product captaining the Knights Harold Matthews and SG Ball teams as a teenager before progressing through Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup and eventually making his NRL debut in 2021.<\/p>\n
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Difference maker – Kalyn Ponga<\/p>\n
For the past few years, however, Nabiac and the wider Taree region fell under the Bulldogs control. That has now changed, with large swaths of northern NSW back in the Knights hands.<\/p>\n
The turnaround has been immediate. Newcastle\u2019s under 17s took out the Harold Matthews Cup while the under 19s fell to the Roosters in the SG Ball grand final.<\/p>\n
Croker recognises how fortunate he is to have spent his entire career in the Knights pathway and is confident the club is building a foundation for long-term success.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot a lot of people get to play for the one club,\u201d Croker said. \u201cI\u2019m one of the lucky few who have got to be a junior that comes through.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with Newcastle because of how well they look after their own, it makes it extra special for me. I\u2019m fortunate there\u2019s a few others in the team who have come through the juniors as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhoenix Crossland, Bradman Best, Fletcher Sharpe and a few other guys. We\u2019ve got a good group of blokes that know what it takes to play for this town.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Holbrook has placed a heavy emphasis on reconnecting with the community, the coach has also ensured the current squad has an understanding of the club\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
Most of the squad was not born in 1997 and many were too young to remember 2001. Those two titles, however, have been a constant source of inspiration throughout their charge to the grand final.<\/p>\n
Buderus is on the Knights coaching staff. Paul Harragon, Andrew Johns and a host of others have been regular fixtures at training and the club\u2019s HQ throughout the year.<\/p>\n
Holbrook sat the squad down prior to last week\u2019s preliminary final and showed them Newcastle\u2019s win over the Bears in the 1997 grand final qualifier.<\/p>\n
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Knights v Bears – Preliminary Final, 1997<\/p>\n
The key point of emphasis was Darren Albert\u2019s try-saving tackle on Matt Sears. It\u2019s no coincidence the Knights defended their way to victory over Penrith despite going down to 12 men late in the first half.<\/p>\n
Rather than act as a source of pressure, as has been the case in the past, the club\u2019s history has served to inspire the current squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up you always heard about Andrew Johns or Darren Albert\u2019s try [in the 1997 grand final] but I never really understood what it meant to the town and what it did for the community,\u201d 20-year-old prop, and Maitland junior, Cody Hopwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so young so I never had that feeling or realisation of what the Knights could bring to this region until now that I\u2019m living it. I\u2019ve felt the difference that this team can make to the community. It\u2019s a special feeling and unbelievable to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The past month has been a fairytale but it hasn\u2019t been all smooth sailing for the Knights this year.<\/p>\n
Many thought their premiership hopes were dashed when Dylan Lucas and Dylan Brown went down in a one-point loss to the Roosters in Round 21.<\/p>\n
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Game breaker: Sandon Smith’s match-winning double<\/p>\n
Nearly three months on and the Knights continue to defy expectations. But still, few outside the Hunter give the side a chance against a star-studded Roosters side.<\/p>\n
That is exactly where this team likes to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a similar storyline around,\u201d Croker said. \u201cPeople have been doubting us this whole finals series.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going in underdogs again, there\u2019s no dramas about that on our end. We\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 4 weeks of thrilling finals, it all comes down to this. One play can define a season. These are the moments that matter. Don’t miss a second of the action with kick-off at 7.30pm Sunday night live on Nine, 9Now and Sky Sports NZ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a hard-working area and you want to see that in your rugby league team, that\u2019ll never change.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-620248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}