Newcastle Knights

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Newcastle were the only club to ever leave the premiership and go on to bigger and better days. The original Newcastle club competed in 1908 and 1909 before stepping down to develop its own local competition.

A thriving Newcastle district competition and representative side invariably led to thoughts of the side returning to the Sydney premiership. While Newcastle continued to provide difficult opposition for visiting sides from England and New Zealand, it also won numerous Country Championships and even the State Cup in 1964 (beating 3 Sydney clubs).

The Hunter also provided a rich seam of talent that made its way to Sydney clubs and into Australian sides including Clive Churchill, Brian Carlson, Andy Norval and Wally Prigg to name a mere handful of them.

Newcastle had the opportunity to join the premiership in 1982 however voted against the move. The successful inclusion of Canberra and Illawarra saw the pressure to return to the Sydney premiership continue to grow. As did the arrival of Newcastle sides in the national basketball and soccer competitions.

The further reduction in travelling time between Sydney and Newcastle by road (160kms) made the move all the more logical - and inevitable. In April 1987 Newcastle was granted entry into the premiership for the following season.

The club adopted the name ‘Newcastle Knights' as a reference to its ‘steel city' industrial history. The jersey colours of red and blue were adopted from the district's representative side that wore red jerseys, white shorts and blue socks.

The first coach was former Test player Alan McMahon. He built a side around New Zealand imports Sam Stewart, James Goulding, Adrian Shelford, Tony Kemp and Tea Ropati along with youngsters Mark Glanville, Robbie McCormack, Tony Butterfield and Paul Harragon.

While the club struggled in their first season, finishing 14th of 16 teams, it began to build a spirit of character centred on tough, no nonsense players who always gave their best. The crowds averaged over 20,000 at the International Sports Centre (later to be known as Marathon Stadium) and everyone shared in the tough going on the field.

In 1989 the club welcomed Michael Hagan and Mark Sargent from Canterbury, along with Gary Wurth from Easts. Results improved with a mid-table finish achieved and the city hoped for a promising 1990. In the off-season Newcastle was hit by a damaging earthquake that tested the spirit of the community.

The Knights gave their supporters much to cheer about in the 1990 season by fighting out for a semi-finals spot, eventually reaching a play-off for 5th place. Newcastle lost to Balmain 12-4 but had continued the steady rise to stability and premiership credibility.

By 1992 under coach David Waite the Knights had built a backline to make profit from the hard work their forwards were producing. Halfback Matt Rodwell was partnering with Hagan, outside them were Ashley Gordon, Robbie O'Davis, Adrian Brunker and Brad Godden.

Newcastle finished the season in 4th place and easily accounted for Wests 21-2 in their first semi-final. A week later they kept St George tryless but were beaten 3-2 after a late Dragons field goal broke the deadlock.

In 1994 the club began to build around the exciting halves combination of brothers Matthew and Andrew Johns. The increasing number of local juniors starting to find their feet in first grade marked a new era in the club's history.

Former Great Britain Test coach Mal Reilly took over the Knights in 1995 and results improved markedly. Newcastle opened 1995 winning their first nine matches in heady days for the club and its supporters. The Knights faltered though late in the season and scrapped into the play-offs.

Recovering form in time to beat Norths and Cronulla, Newcastle gained a place in the Final against Manly. In a tough match the Sea Eagles managed to edge out the Knights 12-4 with a late converted try.

Disrupted by the Super League war as it raged through 1996, the Knights failed to build on their achievements of 1995. The 1997 season saw Newcastle well in the premiership fight throughout the season in the 12 team ARL competition. Celebrating their tenth season, the Knights playing strip featured a vertical striped 'soccer-style' style jersey that many of the district's clubs once wore (a remnant of the hold soccer had on the region a century before).

Few though predicted how the final few weeks of the 1997 season would turn out for Knights even though they finished in the top three clubs. In the last club round, Newcastle completely took Balmain apart winning 34-10 at Marathon. At that stage the Tigers held the best defensive record in the competition, but it had been ripped to pieces by Newcastle. It should have set alarm bells off in Sydney, but most still didn't rate the Knights capable of going all the way.

Adam MacDougall scored two tries as Newcastle came back from 18-0 down to defeat Parramatta 28-20. It was a gruelling encounter that left Matthew Gidley with a broken leg and Andrew Johns with damaged ribs. The Knights played the next semi-final against Manly without O'Davis and Andrew Johns knowing the play-off system meant the game was not an elimination match.

The Sea Eagles and Knights were fast establishing a rivalry to match the best ‘grudge-matches' on offer, particularly between front rowers Paul Harragon and Mark Carroll (Manly).

Manly eventually won the game 27-12 but the Knights gave a spirited performance that left them confident should a Grand Final re-match occur. The loss resulted in Newcastle meeting North Sydney in the Final. Two kicks from Andrew Johns were responsible for tries to O'Davis and Bill Peden after each take was spilled by the Bears.

The Knights held a 12-4 lead at half-time before North Sydney staged a comeback scoring two tries themselves. The Bears missed both conversions and the match was locked at 12-12 with extra time looming.

Norths then had two more tries stopped by last ditch tackles, the final one by winger Darren Albert after Bears winger Matt Seers had run 70 metres. Andrew Johns then potted a 36 metre field goal to edge the Knights in front by 13-12. A short kick-off by Norths back-fired on them as Owen Craigie raced away to seal the Knights place in the Grand Final.

Manly won the other Final and the pundits all opted for a Sea Eagles premiership. Manly had not been beaten by Newcastle since 1992 and never in Sydney. None of the Knights had any Grand Final experience while Manly had been in the past two deciders. Statistics though don't speak of or take account of emotion.

As the Knights travelled to Sydney on their team bus, the road all the way from Newcastle to the southern fringes of the Central Coast was lined with supporters. Captain Paul Harragon said later that the team felt it couldn't let its fans down - they had to win.

With Harragon and Carroll again making their best efforts to knock each other out, the match opened with torrid clashes. Harragon was fortunate to stay on the field after delivering numerous high tackles, then again it was a Grand Final. Manly shot out with three first half tries to lead 16-8 at half time and had the game well in hand.

The Sea Eagles though couldn't quite kick clear and the Knights sensed their opportunity after converting a penalty goal to come within six points. With a quarter of the game remaining, the crowd lifted behind the Knights. O'Davis was tackled close to the Manly line and somehow forced his arm free to plant the ball on the tryline for a converted try and a 16-16 score.

The Sea Eagles seemed stunned by the situation they had somehow found themselves in. With a minute on the clock they failed to kick deep on the sixth tackle and gave the Knights one last chance to kick a field goal to win in normal time.

With seconds remaining Andrew Johns did the unthinkable and ran down the blind side rather than opting for an infield pass and shot at one point. The Manly defence opened up as Johns passed back inside to his flying winger Darren Albert who scored behind the posts to secure a 22-16 Grand Final win.

Aside from the Manly supporters the entire rugby league world celebrated the Knights win. The biggest party was reserved for the city of Newcastle itself and it lasted days. The euphoria lasted a lot longer.

The win escalated Andrew Johns to the status of best player in the world. His confidence, backed up by his on field deeds, seemed to know no bounds as a result of his achievements in 1997.

The Knights finished 1998 at the top of the premiership with Brisbane, but failed to make the Grand Final. The year was also marked by suspensions for illegal drug use to top players O'Davis, MacDougall and Wayne Richards.

The Knights continued to be a premiership force over the next few seasons. Although the absence of Andrew Johns for any extended period always left Newcastle vulnerable.

In 2001 the Knights made it to their second Grand Final and again they were outsiders to take the title. Their opponents Parramatta had set countless club records in a stellar season and had accounted for all-comers throughout the season. The Knights had beaten the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla in upsets to reach the decider.

Practically from the opening whistle the Knights didn't let the Eels into the match. In a faultless display Newcastle took a commanding 24-0 lead by half time. Coach Michael Hagan's tactics were to run the big and mobile Knights forwards at the Eels smaller defenders.

Newcastle's Parsons, Simpson, Kennedy and Perry relentlessly targeted Parramatta's halves. Then Andrew Johns was able to run amok with the Eels defence in turmoil. To Parramatta's credit they fought back to be within six points at the end, but the Knights were never seriously threatened.

Newcastle were nudged out of claiming the 2002 minor premiership on points differential (to the New Zealand Warriors). Two unexpected finals losses (to the Dragons 26-22 and the Roosters 38-12) brought the Knights 2002 campaign to a quick and inglorious finish.

The club then went on a downward slide, culminating in a last placed finish in 2005. A resurgence in 2006 produced a fourth-placed result, but was followed by a return to the bottom of the table in 2007 (15th place out of 16) - an outcome explained by a litany of injuries to key players, most notably the bulging disc to the neck of Andrew Johns, which brought about his retirement after just the third match of the season.

Despite the loss of Johns, the Knights rose to finish ninth in 2008. The season though marked the end of hooker Danny Buderus' career at Newcastle. How the club responds to the post Johns and Buderus era, is the key question heading into 2009 and beyond.