Resurgent Knights out to defy NRL history

Newcastle’s playing group is riding high and has declared they can become the first NRL side to win the grand final from outside the top four.

The 32-6 defeat of Cronulla on Sunday was the Knights’ eighth consecutive victory, the side’s second-longest winning run behind only an 11-game stretch that included the 2001 premiership.

The latest success confirmed that in the opening week of the play-offs the Knights will host their first home final since 2006, making good on a goal set by coach Adam O’Brien in the pre-season.

It comes after Newcastle sat in the bottom four through 19 rounds, their finals hopes looking shot and O’Brien’s job under threat.

But now, the Knights are setting their sights on winning it all.

If Newcastle beat 16th-placed St George Illawarra this weekend, no side in the NRL era will have ever come into the finals on a longer winning streak when finishing outside the top four.

“We’re not just going into the finals to win one or two games,” Knights five-eighth Tyson…