Justin Holbrook inherited the NRL's bluntest attack and a team seemingly dependent on Kalyn Ponga's brilliance. Twelve months later, the Knights are one victory from a Grand Final, and stirring memories of 1997.
In rugby league, 12 months can feel like an eternity.
For the Newcastle Knights, it has been enough time to climb from the bottom of the NRL ladder to within 80 minutes of their first Grand Final since 2001.
Standing between them and the decider are the Penrith Panthers, the minor premiers and the competition's defining team of the modern era. Yet even Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo has paused to admire Newcastle's transformation under Justin Holbrook.
"I worked with Justin Holbrook when he was with the Aussies a couple of years ago and he's just a cracking fellow," Yeo shared ahead of Sunday's clash.
"It's nice to see them doing well.
"Obviously I'm not wishing them any luck on Sunday afternoon, but I think what they've done over there has been outstanding."
Yeo's admiration will extend only as far as Sunday's opening whistle, but it captures the scale of what Holbrook has achieved in his first season at Newcastle.
The Knights collected the wooden spoon in 2025 after winning just six of their 24 matches. They scored an NRL-low 338 points, conceded 638 and finished with a points differential of minus-300.
One year later, Newcastle completed the regular season with a 14-10 record and a positive differential of 42. Their attacking output soared to 633 points, an increase of almost 300, before consecutive sudden-death victories carried them into the final four.
The numbers represent one of the most dramatic single-season turnarounds in recent NRL history.
The more revealing story, however, is how they got there.
A system designed to need less of Ponga
For years, Newcastle's fortunes have appeared inseparable from Ponga's availability and form.
At his best, the Knights captain is among the game's most destructive players. When he has been injured, contained or asked to manufacture every attacking opportunity himself, Newcastle have too often looked devoid of alternatives.
Holbrook's solution was not to marginalise his superstar, but to build a system that demanded less of him.
Dylan Brown, Fletcher Sharpe and Sandon Smith gave Newcastle multiple points of attack, allowing Ponga to roam across the field rather than repeatedly receiving the ball in predictable positions. Newcastle could hold the short side, shift through the middle or send Ponga sweeping around the back of shape with defenders already confronted by several threats.
The structure created space for instinct.
That freedom has suited Sharpe, whose direct running and willingness to attack from anywhere on the field have complemented the control of Smith. It has also released Newcastle's powerful outside backs, with Greg Marzhew and Dominic Young among the most devastating finishers in the competition.
Most importantly, the Knights proved early that their new identity could survive without its biggest names.
Ponga suffered a hamstring injury in Round 2, while Brown sustained a knee injury in the same victory over Manly. Rather than allowing their season to stall, a depleted Newcastle responded with upset wins over Canterbury and reigning minor premiers Canberra.
When Ponga returned, the attack moved to another level - but he was now enhancing a functioning system rather than attempting to rescue a broken one.
The 28-year-old now looks like a captain acutely aware that opportunities to win a premiership are precious. His defensive urgency, involvement around the football and composure during Newcastle's finals run have been just as important as the moments that dominate highlight reels.
Holbrook relieved Ponga of the need to do everything with the ball. In doing so, he appears to have encouraged him to take greater ownership of everything else.
Newcastle find a second identity
Any suggestion that Newcastle's revival was dependent upon perfect health disappeared in Round 21.
Brown ruptured his ACL against the Sydney Roosters, ending the marquee recruit's season just as the finals approached. Dylan Lucas suffered a fractured and dislocated ankle in the same match, while Jacob Saifiti's suspension and Trey Mooney's shoulder injury further tested Newcastle's depth.
The adversity should have placed a ceiling on their season. Instead, Holbrook reshuffled his side and the Knights kept moving.
Their regular season rise was largely powered by expansive, high-scoring football. Their September run has revealed a different side.
Newcastle restricted South Sydney to 10 points in the opening week of the finals before travelling across the Tasman and holding the Warriors to the same total in front of more than 48,000 spectators at Eden Park.
The Knights did not overwhelm the Warriors with attacking brilliance. They absorbed pressure, scrambled defensively and protected a two-point lead after Ponga left the field for a head injury assessment late in the contest.
Holbrook's attack carried Newcastle into the finals. Their defence has now carried them through two of them.
That ability to win in contrasting ways is the clearest indication that this is no longer simply a talented side enjoying a temporary surge of confidence. It is a team with the resilience and tactical flexibility required to survive knockout football.
Penrith, of course, represent an entirely different challenge.
Echoes of 1997
It is tempting to draw a line between Newcastle's current run and the club's breakthrough premiership in 1997.
The comparison is imperfect.
Malcolm Reilly's Knights finished second during the 1997 ARL season and entered the finals as an established contender. Holbrook's side began this year attempting to recover from a wooden spoon and eventually finished seventh.
The modern Knights aren't recreating 1997, but some of the ingredients are beginning to feel familiar.
There is a rugby league city increasingly swept up in the belief that its team can defy a competition heavyweight. There is a gifted playmaker carrying the hopes of the Hunter, supported by a group whose collective resolve has become as significant as its individual talent.
The 1997 Knights fought back from 18-0 down against Parramatta, survived a one-point preliminary final against North Sydney and then stunned Manly with Darren Albert's famous try in the dying seconds of the Grand Final.
Almost three decades later, another Newcastle team has discovered an appetite for sudden-death football.
Ponga is not Andrew Johns, Holbrook is not Reilly and Sunday's match against Penrith is not yet the Grand Final.
But if the Knights can overcome the benchmark team of this era and secure their first Grand Final appearance in 25 years, the echoes of 1997 will become impossible to ignore.
Yeo knows enough about Holbrook to appreciate what has been constructed in Newcastle.
On Sunday afternoon, he will attempt to tear it down.