Paul Harragon remembers it being "mesmerising".
"The Chief", who captained Newcastle to their inaugural premiership in 1997, recalls the departing farewell Knights players received that year as one of his fondest career memories.
Thousands of supporters, if not tens of thousands, lined the streets and main road out of town as the team bus made its way from the stadium out through Wallsend and onto the highway.
"It was mesmerising," Harragon said.
"There must have been 10,000 people when we were leaving.
"You'd see one Knights player and then just a kaleidoscope of colours of people around them.
"We had to get ushered out just to get on the bus.
"And then on the bus, all the way out to Wallsend, the streets were lined, it was continuous.
"There was people standing on their cars, and then once we got to the freeway, we had people following us for ages and ages.
"It was incredible."
Almost three decades later, the Knights are back in another grand final and one win away from ending a 25-year title drought.
They can add a third premiership to their '97 and '01 trophies when they take on the Sydney Roosters in Sunday's season decider at Accor Stadium.
Harragon, who remains an inspirational figure for both the Knights and Newcastle as a city, said he was getting a similar vibe this week to the build-up towards the '97 title.
"It's been 25 years, and it's been lean and it's been tough," he said.
"In 1997, it was tough times. 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.
"I feel the same thing. It's been a long, hard grind, and we're ready to explode.
"You'll see some scenes this week, that the rest of Australia will be going 'Wow'."
Harragon stopped short of issuing a direct call to arms, but he does expect supporters to turn out in force on Saturday when the team bus departs Newcastle.
The bus is expected to leave the club's centre of excellence in Broadmeadow shortly after 9am make its way out to the freeway.
Even last week, dozens of fans lined up along Thomas Street and Newcastle Link Road at Wallsend as the bus left for Sydney ahead of the preliminary final.
Harragon said the Knights' turnaround, after collecting the wooden spoon last year, had played a huge part in the fan pandemonium.
"I think we will," Harragon said when asked if we will see similar scenes to '97 when the team bus leaves.
"It takes rare times.
"Newcastle was ripe in '97 to go off, and it feels a lot the same.
"The X-factor for us is; we come last and it's been so lean.
"To have that dualistic change and be on top, is something to lift our psyche."
Kurri Kurri-born Harragon, 57, knows better than most what a grand final and premiership can do for the region, but admits even he has been shocked seeing what it means to people.
"I know first-hand as well as anyone what it does, what it can do, the difference it makes," he said.
"It literally lifts.
"It gives hope and it lifts, and it's more far-reaching than you can ever imagine.
"These guys will get to experience something that they love, and that they're great at, and it just happens to put them in the hope business.
"They just give a lot of hope.
"I'm gob-smacked by just how far-reaching it is.
"It's incredible, and I feel that same feeling from all those years ago."
The former prop forward, a foundation Knights player who made 169 appearances for the club from 1988 to 1999, praised the Justin Holbrook-coached side for how they had performed this year and particularly through the finals series.
He sees plenty of parallels with the '97 campaign, and said that's why it had resonated with so many former players.
"All the '97 and 2001 team members are feeling really emotional," Harragon said.
"I've been surprised myself, you know, out-of-the-blue, real emotion.
"It's the activation of the red and blue army, and the way that we realised it the very first time in 1997.
"The enormity is well beyond a game of football and yourself.
"It was quite overwhelming, but in a great way, and I feel it again, and I think that's the emotion a lot of guys are feeling."
Asked if he had a message for the players, Harragon said: "They don't need any message. They're on song."
He described the Roosters as "a good enemy".
"They're the best team in the comp, when you analyse it now," he said.
"Explosive power, their starts are incredible, they've put 80 points on teams in two weeks in the semi-finals.
"It's unbelievable, really."
As for how the players might be feeling?
"It's bigger than yourself, that consciousness is gone," Harragon said.
"Your meta-morphing into: there's a mission here.
"If it's successful, it changes everyone."
