ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys has labelled Newcastle "the definition of rugby league" and has lauded Knights fans for their support as the club prepares for its first finals appearance in seven years against South Sydney tomorrow.
Dynamic young fullback Kalyn Ponga will spearhead his side's bid to keep their premiership campaign alive as the Knights go into the sudden death clash at ANZ Stadium as huge underdogs against the Rabbitohs.
But while no one outside of the club and its staunchest supporters rates their chances of causing an upset, V'landys said the game is just happy Newcastle have broken the drought and are finally back in the play-offs.
"We are very excited to have Newcastle in the finals for the first time in quite a while," V'landys told the Newcastle Herald.
"It's one of the strongest supporter bases of any of our teams and they have been ever since they came in. They are just very passionate supporters and that's what we need in our game."
V'landys said the club and the region epitomises what the game is all about.
"Newcastle, in my view, really is the definition of rugby league," he said. "It's an area where the game is at its best. It's appreciated up there. The fans can't get enough of it.
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"It's a working class area, the same as Wollongong. We've got a game for all demographics but deep down, it's a working class game and when I grew up in Wollongong, the two working class areas were Wollongong and Newcastle. The fans are rusted on. So, for us, it's great to have the club back in there and I wish them all the best."
The finals series kicked off last night with minor premiers Penrith taking on defending premiers Sydney Roosters at Panthers Stadium. In the games today, Canberra host Cronulla and Parramatta travel to Brisbane to take on Melbourne Storm.
"They are all going to be top-level games so hopefully that's reflected in how many people are watching," V'landys said. "We rely so much on broadcast revenue - 80 per cent of it comes from our broadcast partners so the more people that watch the games the better.
"We'll always get the rusted on fans watching but it's the casual viewers we are looking to attract and I'm really hopeful the quality of the product will do that."
V'landys has been widely recognised as the man most responsible and the driving force behind the premiership continuing this season amid the COVID-19 crisis that impacted on so many of the sports. But he deflected all the credit onto the clubs and the players.
"There is 800 people in the bubble across all the clubs and they have had to make an extraordinary sacrifice to keep the competition going and viable so every bit of credit goes to them," he said.
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