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‘The way the fans have rallied, in particular this week — Kalyn said it in his speech, we’ll be back.’
‘The way the fans have rallied, in particular this week — Kalyn said it in his speech, we’ll be back. ’After claiming last season’s wooden spoon, the Knights had dared to dream of completing the ultimate bounce-back before falling to a 19-18 grand final loss against the And while the result will be painful for the legions of Novocastrians at Accor Stadium and back home, the fact Justin Holbrook’s even reached the grand final is remarkable in itself.
“It hurts so much. I know we did them proud but the ultimate goal is to win a comp. We’ll be back,” Kalyn Ponga told Nine.
“Obviously wooden spoon last year, if you had’ve said we’d be playing in the grand final I would’ve said you were kidding. ”Newcastle have boasted the worst completion rate of any side in the NRL this year but have tempered that with their ability to inflict pain on opponents from anywhere.
The Knights finished seventh — no side has won the competition from outside the top four since 1995 — and faced a sudden-death final for the last four weeks all with $2.5 million of talent sitting on the sidelines. Most sides would crumble with the losses of their halfback and first-choice front row pairing, but in Newcastle’s case it has been the making of them.
They slayed South Sydney, the Warriors and Penrith, through the knockout stages and had shown a defensive fortitude to withstand anything that was thrown at them. And Knights looked set for the most-prized finals scalp of their season on Sunday when they led 12-6 at halftime after being forced to defend 52 first-half play-the-balls in their own 50m.
Dom Young executed a perfect chopping tackle to deny Billy Smith and Kalyn Ponga jolted the ball loose from Mark Nawaqanitawase’s grip as the rugby-bound winger looked certain to score a try. Thomas Cant looked assured filling in at hooker for the suspended Phoenix Crossland, and despite the Roosters’ dominance they had little to show for it.
The Roosters had 84 per cent of the first-half territory, but somehow the Knights had found a way to lead with Francis Manuleleua cutting through for the opener and Ponga scoring a long-range effort. The Knights continued to keep turning the Roosters away, with Sharpe felling James Tedesco and Sandon Smith stopping Salesi Foketi. But eventually the mountain of pressure and territory from the first half — and the last three sapping weeks — began to tell.
Billy Smith fought through an exhausted Knights right edge to pull the Roosters level in the 48th minute and from there it felt like the Knights were on their knees. Nawaqanitawase crashed over for a try and while Greg Marzhew dragged one back, Newcastle’s last-minute attacking shift went to ground and the fairytale had fallen one point short.
“For the Knights to only be beaten by one point it was a superhuman effort. “They just hung in and hung in and hung in and then towards the end and they could have stole it late. Incredible effort, incredibly proud of the players and everyone at the club.
“The way the fans have rallied the last couple of weeks, in particular this week — Kalyn said it in his speech, we’ll be back. I have no doubt they’ll be back next year with some key players who weren’t playing tonight. ” A 5-year-old girl remains in an induced coma after being struck when a car ploughed into a crowd of Knights fans as they farewelled the team on Saturday.
Four of the injured victims were released from hospital before the grand final — a 63-year-old woman, and three men, who have revealed that they would still head to Sydney to attend the game.
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