The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-09-30 · by Adrian Proszenko
On Wednesday, over 12,000 fans attended an open training session for the Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium, surpassing crowd numbers for some actual NRL games this season. The event celebrated the team's progress towards a grand final appearance and featured appearances by former players and enthusiastic supporters. Community pride was evident as locals embraced their "Our town, our team" motto, with merchandise sales booming and fans like 88-year-old Dawn Dunning gaining viral fame for cheering on players from the roadside.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-30,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Newcastle is partying like it’s 1997.
asserted
it → party → ?
More than 12,000 Novocastrians packed in to honour their grand-final heroes at an open training session.
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Novocastrians → pack → session
To put that figure into perspective, several actual NRL games this year have attracted smaller crowds.
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games → put → crowds
Among those in attendance were dozens of mulletted teens paying homage to star playmaker Fletcher Sharpe.
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dozens → pay → Sharpe
Former Knights player Alex McKinnon lent his support, while there was also a superfan whose head – clad in a forged knights-of-the-realm-style steel helmet – baked in the midday sun.
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head → lend → sun
This is a community truly embracing its “Our town, our team” ethos.
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This → embrace → ethos
“The community is so good up here, we know how important rugby league is to the Hunter Region,” said Knights coach Justin Holbrook.
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Holbrook → know → Region
“We understand our responsibility, and it’s great to be able to have a day like today and include the community.
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it → understand → community
The boys want them to be proud of the team that runs out there, and we’ve done a good job of that this year.
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we → want → that
We’ve got to do it again on Sunday.
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We → get → Sunday
It has been a quarter of a century since the locals last played in a decider, and after such a long wait, nobody wants to miss out.
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nobody → play → wait
Across the road, the club merchandise store looks like it has been ransacked.
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it → look → road
When we popped in on Tuesday, there were rows of empty racks and coathangers where the team jerseys and other paraphernalia should be.
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jerseys → pop → racks
Punters have been lining up outside every morning in pursuit of merchandise, but supply can’t keep up with demand.
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supply → line → demand
Grand finals produce unexpected heroes, and we already have one, in the form of 88-year-old grandmother Dawn Dunning.
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we → produce → Dunning
Dunning convinced her sister Ailsa, 86, and friend June Hill, 88 to farewell Knights fans as they bussed their way to Accor Stadium for last weekend’s preliminary final victory against Penrith.
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they → convince → Penrith
Footage of the octogenarians waving their flags quickly went viral, culminating in the trio appearing on the Today Show on Wednesday morning.
“Very overwhelming, it’s hard to take, I can tell you,” Dunning quipped when asked about her new-found celebrity status.
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Dunning → wave → status
“We had a great time waving down all the buses.
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We → have → buses
We had that many cars blow their horns at us, it was just ridiculous.
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it → have → us
We couldn’t get over it.
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We → get → it
It was the funniest day we’ve ever had.
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we → have → ?
“We watched the Knights bus go first and all of the buses, there must have been 20 of them.
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bus → watch → them
I knew my granddaughter was going on one, so every time a bus would come up to the intersection, I’d press the button so the bus would have to stop.
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bus → know → button
Meanwhile, the locals have literally painted the town red (and blue).
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locals → paint → town
Here, Teigan and Sam Jobbins, with a bit of help from their mate Aiden Kelaher, have Knight-washed their kingdom.
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Teigan → wash → kingdom
After painting their fences for the semi-finals series a few years ago, they went the extra step this week and decked out the house in team colours.
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they → paint → colours
“We’ve always wanted to do this,” Teigan said as passing cars tooted their horns in approval.
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cars → want → approval
Local businesses are following suit.
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businesses → follow → suit
Eat Your Water, an independent surf brand on Darby Street at Cooks Hill, has repainted its shopfront red and blue.
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Water → repaint → shopfront
Customers are also offered a 25 per cent discount, a nod to the 25 years since the team’s last premiership victory.
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Customers → offer → victory
The paint hadn’t even dried and already the store’s Instagram page had an additional 150,000 views.
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page → dry → views
“The customers love it,” said store owner Liam Scanlan.
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Scanlan → love → it
“One of the comments I saw was, ‘It’s good to see a business put their money where their mouth is and not just have an AI slop or a fake storefront’.”
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mouth → see → slop
With Knights merchandise almost impossible to procure, local artist Mitch Revs was inspired to produce a special edition “Better than Lego” t-shirt.
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Revs → procure → shirt
It’s a catchphrase that entered the rugby league vernacular courtesy of Matty Johns, the day after Newcastle’s 1997 grand final triumph.
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that → ’ → triumph
In a tired and emotional interview with Sunrise reporter Natalie Barr, Johns offered those four words to describe his euphoric state.
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Johns → offer → state
Now that they are emblazoned on a $50 t-shirt, locals just can’t get enough of them.
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locals → emblazon → them
The idea was to just pump out a couple of hundred shirts, but sales are now in the thousands, even though most of the stock can’t be produced before the decider.
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most → pump → decider
“I put it online, and my phone exploded,” Revs said.
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Revs → put → it
“I’m not sure if you’re aware of Shopify, but when you get a sale, it makes this ‘cha-ching’ sound.
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ching → ’m → sound
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
