Three ‘hybrid halfbacks’: How Newcastle sparked one of the game’s great revivals

September 10, 2026 — 3:45pm

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Exactly one year ago, the numbers were just as ugly as Newcastle’s attack. Not to mention Fletcher Sharpe’s ruptured kidneys.

The Knights’ 14.1 points per game last season cost Adam O’Brien his job as they picked up the wooden spoon.

Their woeful offence often hurt to watch and made for the second-worst return in club history since 1991. That was a time when defensive lines only had to stand five metres back from the play-the-ball.

Now? They’re a bit busted, and facing a star-studded South Sydney on Friday night without key men Dylan Brown, Dylan Lucas, Jacob Saifiti and Trey Mooney.

But broken? Hardly. Not with Justin Holbrook unfurling an attack that scores more points (26.4 points per game) than any Newcastle outfit since Andrew Johns was in his prime.

According to AAP, that upswing of 12.3 points per game is the fourth-largest attacking turnaround from one season to the next in rugby league history.

Largely forgotten among 114 Novocastrian tries this year is the consternation and confusion of how their playmaking spine would fit together at all.

Johns himself was........

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