Tearful Johns praises fans for helping Knights end grand final drought

Matty Johns became emotional while praising the Newcastle Knights and their fans after the team's preliminary final win over Penrith. The Knights secured a spot in the NRL grand final for the first time in 25 years.

The team played with 12 men for more than half the game after Phoenix Crossland was sent off. Despite being down, they defended well against Penrith and scored three second-half tries to progress to the grand final.

The Knights will face the Roosters in the NRL grand final on Sunday, October 4, at 7:30pm AEDT, according to ABC News AU.

Brief written by urgent.news from ABC News, ABC News AU — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.