Despite their epic run last season which resulted in an elimination final win, the Knights have carried an underdog mentality with them in 2024, and will continue to do so heading into this year’s finals series.
But the real question is whether the Knights are genuine contenders, or are they just making up the numbers?
Coach Adam O’Brien has had to go about his business over the past two seasons despite constant rumours swirling over his future.
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The response? Well, O’Brien shut out the noise and led Newcastle to the finals in 2023 and 2024. That’s now four finals appearances in the five seasons he’s been Knights head coach.
He deserves plenty of credit, but can the 46-year-old now take this team even further?
While the NRL world is writing his side off, O’Brien is relishing the naysayers, warning the rest of the comp to write the Knights off at their will.
THE TOP EIGHT’S “UGLY DUCKLING”
According to O’Brien, Newcastle will head into Saturday’s weekend’s elimination final clash against the Cowboys as the “ugly duckling” of the top eight.
The Knights defeated the Dolphins last Sunday afternoon in the final game of the regular season to lock up eighth spot.
Speaking to reporters after the 14-6 win, O’Brien said that his team will carry an underdog mentality into their finals campaign, which will start next Saturday night in Townsville.
“Naturally they (Cowboys) will be the favourites,” O’Brien said.
“No one had us in the eight at the start of the year. There might have been one or two of you who did but not many. I think everyone will keep us as the underdog. We like it that way.
“We’ve been using it all year. We’re the ugly duckling.”
Knights a ‘great chance’ for shock win | 02:28
Newcastle appeared to be dead and buried at the end of Round 24 following a one point loss to Cronulla. That defeat dropped them to 11th on the ladder with three weeks left.
At that stage, the Fox Sports Lab rated the Knights a near-certain 92.1% chance of missing the top eight.
While it didn’t go close to reaching the heights of last season’s stunning 10-game win streak, the Knights would win their final three regular season games (Souths, Titans, Dolphins) to sneak into the eight.
O’Brien called it a “satisfying” result considering how many times his side has been “written off” this season.
“I’m proud of the playing group, they’re the ones who get us into the finals, they’re the ones putting their bodies on the line,” he said.
“We’ve been written off about four or five times this year but they just keep sticking at it. They’re gritty.
“All the values we looked at the start of the year with the old boys with grit, inspiration and stuff like that, this team has just lived that.
“We’re not flashy but they’re tough and they want to make people proud.
“Like I said, not many people had raps on us this year and they didn’t last year either but we just get used to it. But the people who fill this stadium and the people around this town give us the raps, give us the support we need so we want to do them proud next week in North Queensland.”
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HUNTED NOW THE HUNTER
While there are plenty of similarities between this season and last, most notably the red-hot form the Knights entered both finals series, O’Brien believes there is one key difference.
Unlike in 2023, when Newcastle were considered a premiership contender on the back of nine straight wins, O’Brien says this season, they are flying under the radar.
“I’m speaking honestly and for how I sort of feel, but the more we won last year the more it was like ‘oh they’re going to lose one soon’ and then it did become a little bit like we were the hunted. We felt like that,” O’Brien said.
“The last few weeks, we were written off after the Sharks game, so it flicked our minds that we were doing the chasing.
“You know teams like the Dolphins and Dragons have been in the eight for a lot longer periods and I felt like they were looking over their shoulders.”
While the Knights entered last season’s finals campaign in stronger form than what they do this time around, O’Brien says his side is better for the experiences learned last year.
Unfortunately, there has been a setback, with star centre Bradman Best ruled out with injury just two days before the Cowboys clash.
“I was thinking about this a lot after the game, I think we’re a lot more battle hardened this year,” he told media this week, before news of Best’s injury setback.
“Last year (we had) 10 winning games and we were a little more busted towards the end, we lost some key guys in Fitz (Lachlan Fitzgibbon) and Jacko (Jackson Hastings) and Kalyn (Ponga) with his shoulder.
“We’re in a much different spot health wise, I feel like we’re battle hardened.”
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Before Newcastle went on their stunning run in 2023, the club’s brass were meeting with potential replacements for O’Brien’s job.
The way the season was going, with the Knights sitting in 14th, it looked as if O’Brien’s time was running out in Newcastle.
However, thanks to the incredible 2023 turnaround, O’Brien earned himself a contract extension for 2025, 2026 and 2027.
“What a remarkable turnaround when we were all sitting here thinking he was one or two games away from getting sacked now Adam O’Brien is on the brink of a long term deal and becoming the Knights longest serving coach,” The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis said on NRL360 this time last year.
NRL host Braith Anasta added: “He said himself, he was close to going to Centrelink. It was tongue-in-cheek but at the same time his job was definitely on the line and he was nearly gone. He was days away.”
Another caveat to O’Brien’s contract was revealed a few weeks ago when it was reported that if Newcastle had finished 13th or lower this season, the final two years of his contract extension wouldn’t be triggered.
That looked a real possibility with three rounds to play, as Newcastle were 11th and just two points above 13th spot.
However once again, with backs against the wall, O’Brien and the Knights were able to figure it out when it was all on the line to win the final three games of the season.
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THIS WEEKEND’S CHALLENGE
That late flurry now sets up a daunting elimination final against the Cowboys up in Townsville.
North Queensland certainly have the wood over the Knights of late, winning eight of the last 10 meetings between the two sides.
The Cowboys have hosted the last three meetings, winning all three at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Despite the recent record against them, O’Brien wasn’t about to be intimidated by the opposition, instead firing a shot across the bow.
The Knights coach says his side is “more ready for a tight battle” than the Cowboys are.
“We’ve been in some really tight contests, obviously a one-point game against Cronulla and I think six or eight points in Penrith,” O’Brien said.
“Again last weekend, handling a big occasion in front of a big crowd … I just feel like we’re more ready for a tight battle.
“More ready than the opposition are, they’ve had some big blowout scorelines and haven’t had a real tight contest for a while so hopefully that puts us in good stead.”
Have Cowboys peaked perfectly? | 01:08
The bookies are certainly favouring the Cowboys on the back of a 44-6 win over the Bulldogs last week, but a couple of experts believe Newcastle can push the home side.
Fox League’s Matty Johns says he gives his former side “a big chance” this week on the back of their defensive resolve in the ‘win-and-in’ clash against the Dolphins in Round 27.
“This is the reason why I give the Knights a big chance is this. The Dolphins are a very good grinding team, they get you in the arm wrestle,” Johns said.
There were times on Sunday that the Dolphins were going about their work and I started to see the gas go out of the Knights’ defence, but they hung in there and got through it.
“If the Knights can make this an ugly, stop-start game, I think they can beat the Cowboys.”
“If you make it really ugly, it might just drag the Cowboys out. But I think the Knights got to wrestle around with the Cowboys’ inconsistency and then Kalyn has to strike like he did on the weekend,” Cooper Cronk added.
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