LAST time the Knights hosted a home NRL final, Andrew Johns played halfback. Illustrious club names on the park at the then EnergyAustralia Stadium included Matthew Gidley, Danny Buderus and Clint Newton featured on the teamsheet, while grand final winner and Newcastle enforcer Ben Kennedy lined up for Manly.
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With great respect to all of the above, that offers some indication of how long the devout Newcastle Knights fans have waited for this match against the Canberra Raiders.
Tickets became available for club members on Monday, and will be opened up to the general public on Tuesday. It is a just reward for fans who have stood by the side after a number of lean years, and some torrid results at Turton Road last season.
Last time the Knights hosted a home NRL final, Andrew Johns played halfback.
In the eyes of fans and sceptics alike, their effort to finish just outside the top four is a win in and of itself regardless of what September brings from here. The run has been one to savour, and team spirit is catching across Newcastle.
The Novocastrian faithful may be daring to dream, but the Hunter side in the eye of this very welcome storm will hopefully be going about their work the way they have so successfully to date. It has been a winning formula for a side that gallops into the post-season with plenty of momentum and chemistry. There's reason for optimism.
That 2006 clash with Manly, a 25-18 nail-biter, went the way of the home team. While many will be hoping history repeats on that front, the Broncos emphatically ended the 2006 season the following week with a 50-6 drubbing.
It was South Sydney who bundled the Knights out of the first round in 2020, and Parramatta in 2021. A win on Sunday would be the first finals victory since a famous win over Melbourne in 2013, against the odds.
However the chips fall on Sunday, Knights fans are unlikely to be looking at those results just yet. They're more likely to be pondering 2015, 2016 and 2017 when the club collected consecutive wooden spoons.
The finals seemed a long way off in that era, when even a lone victory in the regular season offered cause for celebration. Now, Newcastle is not only in the finals; it is hosting one, and a fancied chance of putting its opposition to a stern test.
It is a return to the giant-killing ways of the side's glory days. Nobody gave Newcastle a hope against Parramatta in 2001, nor expected Manly to go down in 1997. Nobody expected Melbourne to stumble in 2013, nor the Knights to finish fifth this year.
Defying expectations in each of those cases offered up a defining moment in the club's history. More than that, it galvanised existing fans and converted new ones.
When the whistle blows on Sunday, the Knights can stand tall. They have inspired a city, they have put opponents on notice and they have silenced doubters.
Whatever the final score says, it will enter into the history of the Newcastle Knights. But only rare games etch themselves into the memories of fans long after the season is left behind. If nostalgia is the pain of an old wound, the Knights have a few to avenge. History can come later; for now, it's about soaking up every glorious moment.
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