THE moment that got the Knights fired up for their game against the Storm last Saturday arrived by chance, but there was nothing lucky about the ensuing victory over the NRL's defending champions.
The majority of the best and most meaningful moments in rugby league are not scripted. When the lights suddenly went out in the dressing room warm-up area and the Newcastle players were left to continue their routine in the dark, in front of a host of the club's former players on old boys' day, the chills down the spine weren't long in coming.
The enthusiastic blasts from the past, who obviously felt strong enough to play in their minds, if not their bodies, started roaring encouragement at the current players in the pitch dark.
By the time the lights came back on, a couple of minutes later, the Knights were ready to rock and roll. They were just about ready before that, anyway, but by all accounts this took them to fever pitch. The cake was baked. But whose idea had it been to turn off the lights? No one's, actually.
"Everybody thought it was meant to be part of the theatre," coach Brian Smith said yesterday before leaving for Brisbane, and tonight's crucial game against the Broncos. Win, and the Knights are in the finals. Lose, and they have to rely on Parramatta beating the Warriors to hang on.
"But what happened was [former Knights prop] Mark Sargent leaned back on the wall and accidentally touched the light switch. The lights went off, but the boys kept warming up, even though they couldn't see a thing. Then the old boys started roaring encouragement at them.
"The old boys were always going to form a guard of honour for the players to run through when they took the field, so I had invited them to come in and watch the team warm up as well. By the time the lights came back on, most of the old boys looked like they were ready to put on a jersey.
"I've got to say it was one of the most spine-tingling moments I've experienced in the game. It was very emotional, and very inclusive, which is what this club is all about. The whole old boys' day was a big buzz, and a real snapshot of Newcastle as a club. It was the right vibe for the players, and very useful, on an important night."
The Knights took to the field like men possessed - but against a team as good as Melbourne, desire is not enough. You must have a plan, one that deviates from your team's normal style of play, to try to reduce the effect of what the Storm bring to the table. Smith came up with one, and his players executed it well enough to win.
Asked whether he had discovered a blueprint on how to beat Melbourne in the finals, Smith replied: "It was a good blueprint for us on the night, but I don't know if it would be for other teams. Every team is different. The Warriors also beat Melbourne recently, but I wouldn't say the Warriors played the same way as we did, to do that.
"My personal coaching philosophy is that you should know exactly what your team is capable of, and you don't go beyond what you are capable of. But you've got to be prepared to push the boundaries within that. We were prepared to move the ball about against them to get into good attacking zones, and not just up their end.
"We couldn't let them make three or four tackles on us before we thought about doing something. We had to challenge them a bit, and we did that."
Smith has proved he knows how to engineer a win against the Broncos tonight by making adjustments as part of a plan. He engineered a few wins against the odds in Brisbane when he was coaching Parramatta. He has only been up there once with the Knights - last year, when the Broncos murdered them, 71-6. No point dwelling on that one.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel when we go into a game like this," he said. "We're not that good, at this stage. The plans we're talking about now mostly involve doing the simple things right, but then we put a little twist on it, to try to make the difference."
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