After five long years of missing the finals,the Newcastle Knights are in prime position to make the illustrious top eight by seasons end.
I do believe we have what it takes to get there and I stand by it when I say we will. Making the finals is one thing but winning the premiership is a whole different thing.
For Newcastle Knights, from 2014-2018, only one sole player has been with us in first grade – and that’s Sione Mata’utia.
Now if we analyse the Knights from 2014-2018:
2014: 12th – ten wins and 14 losses
2015: 16th – eight wins and 16 losses
2016: 16th – one win, 22 losses and a draw
2017: 16th – five wins and 17 losses
2018: 11th – nine wins and 15 losses
Total: 33 wins, 87 losses and a draw – a 27.50 per cent win ratio.
Our three spoons on the trot was a real life horror run. Thankfully, not only did we remain faithful in our club, we did in each other and united.
2018 was the best season for us in a long time and it’s not just based on the fact we didn’t come last again, it was because we showed how much we love our team and they show the love right back.
Kalyn Ponga of the Knights. (AAP Image/Brendon Thorne)
Now to catch up the times here in 2019, many are begging for success. Me? I’d be thrilled and over the moon if we won the big one but we need to make the eight first.
What’s important is that we’re all patient. You’re not born as a prime championship football player, you work the hard yards to achieve that.
Bodybuilders aren’t born with those physiques, they worked their asses off for it (at least the natural ones do). The Knights have got the players but they have got to build these combinations to show why they are a threat towards winning their third title.
I know many Knights fans including myself have been patient enough and some want us to win this year.
I want to say we have what it takes but personally, even though we have the quality and quantity, we have some more ground to cover beforehand.
However, as much as I can see us making the finals, for us winning the premiership this year, I’m uncertain. I’m not saying we won’t win it this year, it’s possible but the players really need to work the hard yards to do so.
If we do win it this year, I stand by my word for the nudie run down Turton Road but if not, there’s always next year. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The Knights, whether the club or us fans have come a very long way from once looking set to be removed from the game to the most excitement we’ve have entering a season since the early-mid 2000s. Even though we have come a long way, we still got further to go.
So now after all that’s been said and done, here we stand as a team. Not just the players and coaching staff but us fans as well.
We have rebuilt the club and we are ready for the dawning of a new era of the Newcastle Knights. No more excuses, no more rebuilding and no more bullshit!
The past is over, the present is now and the future is ours. Let’s take the title!
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
I’m sorry Newcastle, but this won’t be your year. Unless your whole approach can change. Kalyn Ponga’s Lisfranc injury may have cost him 12…
Phil Gould told 100% Footy that Jack Hetherington was taking the mickey in his tunnel stoush with Reed Mahoney. Meanwhile, NRL 360 panellist Paul…
Vision showed Hetherington confronting Reed Mahoney in the tunnel and having to be dragged away by staff after the pair were sin-binned. But journalists…
The St George Illawarra revival is now prompting a question that was on nobody’s radar heading into the 2024 season - can the Dragons…
Jack Hetherington could face sanctions from the NRL after vision emerged of the fiery Newcastle forward appearing to throw a punch at Bulldogs hooker…
Who are the hardest working big men in the NRL?
