An update to Justin Holbrook's Wikipedia page this week perfectly summed up how a changing of the guard has taken place in Newcastle.
The page reads that Holbrook "is the Australian professional rugby league coach of the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL), a former player, and, King of Newcastle."
Long live the king.
It's indeed been a dramatic rise for the 50-year-old, whose NRL head coaching aspirations appeared in tatters in 2023 when he was sacked by the Gold Coast Titans to become yet another discard from the perpetually underperforming glitter strip club.
Three years later, Holbrook is just 80 minutes from potentially joining an illustrious field.
Only Mal Reilly and Michael Hagan have coached the Knights to premiership glory. Both men are revered figures in Newcastle.
To win the NRL title a year after a wooden spoon, from seventh place and against the financial muscle of the Sydney Roosters, would position Holbrook on a podium of his own.
If Holbrook is the new king of Newcastle, then captain Kalyn Ponga is undoubtedly its prince.
Ponga's transformation from enigmatic genius to a quietly confident leader has also occurred under Holbrook's watch.
"He's instilled so much belief in all these boys, especially myself," Ponga says. "He doesn't put a ceiling on what we can do as a playing group or an individual.
"The challenges and adversity that we've had to overcome in previous years probably would have been too much, but because we've got him at the helm, it's the reason why we're here."
What's also apparent is that Holbrook, who played five NRL games for the Knights in 1999 and 2000, gets Newcastle. He knows the DNA of the city and the region. What the club means to its community.
It's something the supercoach Wayne Bennett never grasped as he banked Nathan Tinkler's cheques during the one-time "boganaire's" disastrous ownership reign that almost destroyed the club.
Former coach Adam O'Brien steadily rebuilt the club, but a dull brand of football, and his comment last year that Newcastle fans "don't know anything about rugby league" in response to copping a chorus of boos, made him as popular as Manly legend Mark "Spud" Carroll around the Hunter.
Holbrook describes his and the team's role as "a responsibility".
Dubbing sportspeople as "role models" or "heroes" in this modern age of professionalism and multimillion-dollar contracts can be fraught with danger. The recent Sydney Swans scandal is proof of that.
The Knights have endured many dark moments themselves, such as the Danny Wicks drug-trafficking charges.
But take a look at the faces of thousands of children who turned out on Wednesday for the Knights open training session at McDonald Jones Stadium, or the sea of red and blue chanting "New-ca-stle, New-ca-stle" last Sunday at Accor Stadium, and it's clear the connection between club and community is massive.
A tsunami of positive energy swept the Hunter this week as people have painted houses and shops, bought merchandise and shared the excitement with family and friends.
What other NRL club can boast having fans so passionate they would snap up 22,500 free tickets within a handful of minutes - not to actually attend the grand final - but to watch the game on a big screen among other fans?
"It's a real community," Holbrook tells Weekender.
"While there are obviously fans, it's different when you're a one-team, one-town, especially up here where rugby league's a number one sport and it's a community.
"Everyone helps each other, everyone's looking after each other, and we're all going for the same team, so that helps as well."
In the change rooms post-game after beating the Penrith Panthers, Holbrook made it clear the deafening support of the Newcastle faithful kept the Knights in the contest as their 12-man side scrambled in defence.
Especially given many fans struggled to attend the match because of a freight train breakdown and traffic jams on the M1 motorway.
"They just realise their responsibility and importance, and what it means to the whole city and the whole region," Holbrook says. "It's a great responsibility.
"The players understood the importance of it. They've done a great job at embracing it and including the community. We're their team, so we want to include them as often as we can."
Hagan, the last Knights coach to win a premiership, achieved a similar feat in 2001 when he led the club to a shock grand final victory over Parramatta in his first season as first-grade mentor.
Previously Hagan coached Holbrook in the reserve grade during the 2000 season. Hagan was also on the panel that appointed Holbrook to the Knights coaching position in September last year on a three-season deal.
"It was unanimous that Justin [Holbrook] was the best candidate at that time," Hagan says.
"Even though the team had finished the season with the wooden spoon, they had six or eight of their younger players get 10, 12, or 14 games. And they might have had five, six, or seven of their best players that didn't play six or eight of those weeks.
"So I think Justin would have been looking at his roster, quietly confident that if they were all on deck and you add in Dylan Brown, Trey Mooney, Sandon Smith, and Harrison Graham, they could have a pretty good year to start with. But they've had an exceptional year."
Hagan also says he sees a "lot of smiling faces, and that's always a good sign" on the field, which he attributes to Holbrook's influence.
"He's been really calm, really consistent and communicates really well," he says.
"He's pretty humble, and you can't put that on; that's definitely part of his personality, and I think that's what you need in Newcastle to be able to handle it."
Grand final week has ignited waves of nostalgia for all things Novocastrian.
Social media has been flooded with memories of the 1997 and 2001 premierships when the city collectively lost its mind as players such as Paul Harragon, Andrew and Matthew Johns, Robbie O'Davis, Adam MacDougall, Adam Muir, Mark Hughes, Billy Peden and Darren Albert became woven into the cultural fabric of the city.
Images such as Joey Johns skateboarding shirtless down King Street near McDonald's on mad Monday, or brother Matthew drunkenly declaring on live breakfast television that winning the premiership was "better than Lego", are synonymous today with "Novo" culture.
The mid-90s to early 2000s was a magical time for Newcastle, made all the more important because of the tragedies of the 1989 earthquake and the BHP steelworks closure in 1999.
The two premierships gave Novocastrians something to rally around amid the uncertainty.
"In 1997, it was tough times," Harragon recalls. "It was the middle of the [Super League] war; it was tumultuous, everyone was arguing against everyone ... BHP had closed, it was a terrible time, but it galvanised us and the place exploded."
Besides the two premierships, the Knights fielded a consistently star-studded side that made the play-offs regularly, and the city was home to Australia's most internationally successful rock band of the era, Silverchair.
Nostalgia for that time remains so vivid that the Knights' grand final qualification on Sunday led to the Johns brothers openly campaigning for Daniel Johns (no relation), Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou to reform Silverchair, who disbanded in acrimony in 2011, and perform at the grand final.
Given the three individual members have been inactive in terms of live performance for many years, a sneaky performance of Tomorrow or Freak at the grand final was always a ludicrous dream.
However, the clamouring on social media for the reunion to happen gathered so much momentum that Johns, Gillies and Joannou released a rare joint statement on Wednesday.
"We love how footy brings this community together, and it's pretty special watching the whole Steel City get behind the boys," Silverchair said.
"Thanks to everyone who's asked if we're playing before the game. We're way too rusty, so sorry, no can do. We won't be taking the stage, but we'll be supporting as loudly as everyone else and there in spirit."
Newcastle has changed irrevocably in the 25 years since the Knights won their last premiership.
The hospitality industry's lockout laws, the cutting of the heavy rail line at Wickham and installation of the light rail, the continuing high-density residential growth in the CBD and a gradual shift away from heavy industry towards a services and tourism-focused economy have transformed the city.
But the stories and romanticising about the 1997 and 2001 seasons have only grown more vivid.
Mark Hughes was one of five Knights players, along with Andrew Johns, Bill Peden, Robbie O'Davis and Adam MacDougall, to play in both grand finals.
For Hughes, Sunday night is all about the new generation stepping out of the shadow of the 1997 and 2001 sides to forge their own memories for thousands of Novocastrians.
"This season will go down in Knights history forever; what you have achieved has brought so much hope and happiness to our community," Hughes says.
"With the red and blue army behind you, I can see history being made on Sunday, whatever the result."
