Newcastle produced another impressive late season charge to climb into the finals picture and book an elimination final against North Queensland in the last round of the regular season.
Kalyn Ponga was at his scheming best in the Hunter as the Knights won their do-or-die clash against the Dolphins last week to ease to their fourth win in their past five matches to secure eighth place.
It’s nowhere near their 2023 run which saw Adam O’Brien’s side string together 10 victories on the bounce, but the Knights loom as a dark horse in the title race once again due to their star No.1.
However, they will have to overcome a bizarre hoodoo in their clash against the Cowboys.
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Incredible record Knights must overcome against the Cowboys
North Queensland booked a home final for the first week of finals and boast an imposing record in Townsville.
They have won seven of their last eight finals fixtures, yet there is another record which will have the Knights concerned heading into the clash.
The home side have emerged victorious in each of the past 11 meetings between the two sides with home ground advantage clearly having a major impact on the result between them.
To make matters worse for the Knights, they have often struggled on the road this season with just five wins to show for their travels.
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None of those wins came against teams who finished ahead of them on the ladder with the 9th-placed Raiders and 10th-placed Dolphins their best scalps.
Their three other wins outside of the Hunter came against stragglers Gold Coast, South Sydney and the Wests Tigers.
Yet despite all the ominous signs, Ponga is confident the Knights can get the job done up north and book a spot in the semi-finals where they could face either Melbourne or Cronulla.
"We've seemed to put it together at the right time over the last three, four, five weeks (but) it's not a coincidence," Ponga said ahead of Saturday night’s battle.
"I think we've just stuck at what we thought was happening, what we were doing right and it's sort of just coming along."
