BEFORE a ball is kicked, every NRL team can dare to hope that 2023 might be their year. But from 6pm tonight, Newcastle will begin to see if that dream can take shape as anything resembling a reality.
Knights fans tempted to bemoan the first match's result should it go against the Hunter side would do well to learn from those who were overexcited after a hot start to the 2022 campaign.
After those early wins raised expectations, the side's performances regularly brought them crashing back down.
It is early days for a side with a multitude of new combinations in key positions, some of which have lacked the luxury of a full pre-season to prepare.
Still, few fans will brook excuses if the campaign resembles last year too closely.
With Kalyn Ponga's big-money deal and representative players past and present throughout the roster, fans expect to see red and blue players on the pitch comes finals time.
Wests Group are equally unlikely to look kindly upon a campaign that fails to meet or exceed those expectations, and rightly or wrongly it is likely coach Adam O'Brien will bear the brunt of any disappointment.
Ponga's shift to the halves has given some pundits doubts over Newcastle's prospects.
But after a year where the search for a halfback to replace Mitchell Pearce struggled to bear fruit consistently, this year's build-up has been positively calm observed by those on the outside.
All sports fans can be impatient, but Knights fans have in recent decades had more promises of premierships than realistic shots.
The Nathan Brown era, which rebuilt the club's roster into what it is today, offered meagre results as it paid the price of the present to build towards the future. That future, though, is now the present. For many of the faithful, it is time to deliver.
The departure of Dominic Young to the Roosters at the end of the season, if not before, has left a sour taste in the mouth of some fans, particularly given it is the same path that led Connor Watson to depart the club. But far from critical of the side, those loudest fans are ostensibly begging the Knights for a reason to cheer instead of jeer.
That's all it takes to make the hard times worth it: above results, Novocastrians demand passion from the players to match their own.
Hopefully there is plenty of that on show from the 2023 Knights and fans can dare to dream the men's side can emulate the club's NRLW success.
ISSUE: 39,845
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
