Few teams have been mired in mediocrity longer than the Newcastle Knights, a club from a region that few dispute is the heartland of rugby league in Australia. They are built on the legend of Joey and Chief and so many others but have, for the better part of the last quarter-century, been an irrelevance.

No more. After one of the most compelling, controversial and climactic preliminary finals in the history of the game, the Knights are on their way to the 2026 NRL grand final just 12 months after claiming their fourth wooden spoon in 11 seasons. Hollywood’s finest scriptwriter could not have written the story of Newcastle’s rise over the last year – and even the most creative could not have put together what will live in folklore as one of the most dramatic grand final qualifiers the game has seen.

Just one season ago, Newcastle were at rock bottom. Coach Adam O’Brien was sacked midway through his sixth season. The club had enjoyed just five winning seasons since 2003. The team had won just one finals game since 2013. They had finished higher than seventh on one occaision. The club had endured ownership changes and false dawns and the complete loss of identity. So out of touch were the Knights with who they were, O’Brien said booing Newcastle fans “don’t know anything about rugby league”.

When the Knights administration made the decision to move on from O’Brien, that incident was central to their thinking of how best to move forward. The club needed to return to its roots. To embrace Newcastle and the Hunter, to respect one of the most loyal and knowledgable fanbases in the game. That led them to Justin Holbrook, the harshly treated former Gold Coast Titans mentor who had spent two years as a player at the club and embodied what Newcastle Knights football once was and aspired to be: local, positive, fun, tough, committed, prepared to take risks.

Within one season Holbrook has managed all that and more. If any 80 minutes could sum up how far the Knights have come under Holbrook it was Sunday’s preliminary final. Without $13m-signing Dylan Brown and starting props Jacob Saifiti and Trey Mooney, while carrying Origin forward Dylan Lucas who had fractured his ankle in round 21, few afforded Newcastle a chance against a Penrith Panthers team playing in their seventh-straight preliminary final. Their optimistic dreams of a grand final berth were seemingly dashed when hardworking rake Phoenix Crossland was sent off in the 35th minute for a hip-drop tackle on Nathan Cleary that left the Australian No 7 with a reported compound fracture.

While the injury left a pall over the game, the Penrith Panthers were left with a numerical advantage and a 14-6 lead at the break, and seemed destined to return to the grand final in what would have been their sixth in seven seasons. It was three moments, though, that turned the game, turned history and turned the fortunes of the Newcastle Knights. Three moments where the Knights showed three traits that the faithful have long prized and Holbrook has instilled: risk-taking flair, instinctive street smarts and working-class toughness.

For so many years, particularly under O’Brien, the Knights had been risk averse, playing not to lose. Under Holbrook, early shifts and risk-taking have been central to their rise. One minute after the break, Sandon Smith ran the ball on the last, a quick interchange of inside and outside passing leading to a Dom Young try. Smith, who had the game of his life, gave the Knights the lead with a sharp tap off a high tackle that was not quick but took advantage of an uncharacteristicly inattentive Panthers to scythe through for a spectacular four-pointer. With the game on the line and the Knights grimly holding on to a two-point lead, Kalyn Ponga made a spectacular tackle to stop Casey McLean grounding a ball he seemed all but certain to.

The Knights have not come close to a grand final berth in 25 years but now find themselves the fairytale team in a decider against a Sydney Roosters side playing in their fourth under Trent Robinson. The Roosters were dominant in their 36-20 preliminary final win over the Dolphins and will have watched the carnage that unfolded on Sunday with a mixture of relief and glee knowing that the spotlight will now be on the Knights and the emotion shown by their high-profile fans and the likely judiciary appearance of Crossland.

No matter what happens in seven days’ time though, Newcastle’s rise from the ashes has been one of the great feelgood stories in Australian rugby league. An incredible return to glory few saw coming – and few truly believed until Smith streaked away in the final minute to dot down under the posts.