Stand by for one of the best Australian sports stories ever … and not a fairytale in sight

October 3, 2026 — 3:00am

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My ambition? To write one of the few sports columns this week that doesn’t use the word “fairytale” – oops, there I go – about the possibility of the Knights winning the grand final having been wooden-spooners this time last year.

Truly, though, if they can win, as I wrote on Monday, it really will be one of the best stories of Australian sport. EVER.

Look, If the Roosters win, the people of the Eastern Suburbs will be mostly very pleased. Some will be thrilled. If the Knights win, the entire Hunter region will lose its nut and be delirious for months to come.

The thing about the Knights tribe is that they are impossible not to like and admire. They’ve stayed with the team through thick and thin. They’ve turned up. They’ve roared themselves hoarse. And they’re a cut above when it comes to sportsmanship.

Already, one of the most moving things in sport this year came when – as detailed by Tom Decent – Penrith’s Nathan Cleary was stretchered from the field last Sunday after Phoenix Crossland’s tackle went wrong and broke his ankle.

“In a true act of sportsmanship, Knights fans rose as one to their feet to clap the champion halfback from the field.”

Who does that? They did that.

NRL’s Arrow tribute misses target

Which brings us to the news that a tribute to Jai Arrow will be the core feature of the pre-game show at the grand final. Allow me to say this carefully, after quiet consultation with many denizens of the wider league community who have confirmed that I am not alone in my view on this sensitive topic:

The way that the South Sydney club, Arrow himself, and the whole league community have handled the tragedy of his motor neurone disease diagnosis has been nothing short of magnificent.

The gestures of support – especially with footballers across the country, from all codes, miming firing an arrow after scoring – have been heartfelt, spontaneous and organic.

Arrow was given dispensation to make his 99th and 100th appearances for Souths, walking out for the final time in a Rabbitohs jersey at the last game of the season against the Roosters at Allianz Stadium. Arrow and his family received a standing ovation as they entered the field to the strains of You’ll Never Walk Alone.

The last episode was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments, where people wept and were reminded of just how wonderful the sports community – for that’s the word – can be at its best, and the tribe comes together to honour and show shoulder-to-shoulder solidarity with one of its own cherished sons.

But to attempt to make that a twice-in-a-lifetime moment, with Arrow doing another lap at Homebush on Sunday as Amy Shark sings the same song? It feels like something an NRL crisis meeting came up with after the late collapse of negotiations with Tones and I.

The meeting needed someone to stand up and say, “Guys, I know your hearts are in the right place. But seriously, Nah. That would feel too........

© WA Today