The Newcastle Knights have turned on one of the bravest NRL performances in history during their preliminary final against the Penrith Panthers, booking a spot in next weekend's grand final against the Sydney Roosters.
Despite being behind and losing Phoenix Crossland to a controversial send off before halftime which ended Nathan Cleary's day, the Knights turned on an incredible second half display to overwhelm the Panthers, who have been knocked out in the preliminary finals two years in a row.
Here are all the big talking points from the contest.
Phoenix Crossland's send off wasn't right
Firstly, Nathan Cleary's injury is horrific, and there is no mitigating the fact that the hip drop caused it.
The star halfback's season, World Cup and hopefully nothing more, is over. We can only wish him the speediest of recoveries, and hope he is back up and running for Round 1 next year.
But that doesn't automatically mean Phoenix Crossland should have been sent off.
The Knights hooker became the first player to be marched for good for a hip drop on Sunday afternoon. By action, you could argue it's not close to the worst hip drop we have seen.
By result, you could argue it's right up there, although whether a compound fracture is worse than some of the knee injuries, including ACL's, we have seen as a result of bad hip drop tackles, could still be debated.
But by action, it certainly wasn't the worst hip drop ever.
Crossland certainly deserved to be sat down for ten minutes, and is exactly zero chance of playing in the grand final, or at the very least the early games of the World Cup for New Zealand, but reducing the Knights to 12 men for the tackle broke away from precedent.
If that is the new precedent, fine, because hip-drops need to be removed from the game.
But a preliminary final is a weird time to bring in a new precedent.
Liam Martin steps up in a big game... Again
Liam Martin may not traditionally put in the big statistical returns that leap off the stats sheet as one of the best second-rowers in the competition.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't turn up time and time again when it matters for Penrith - or his representative sides for that matter.
He has done it time and time again for the men from the foot of the mountains, and was easily among their best on Sunday afternoon.
This time, he had the stats to prove it, but even away from that, he came up with some big plays, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
It's little wonder the Panthers are desperate to re-sign the second-rower.
Sandon Smith must be Newcastle's halfback in 2027
The Knights are going to face a big selection question in 2027 - only, it shouldn't be that big of a question.
Sandon Smith is the halfback, and pick the rest of the team from there.
What he has done since Dylan Brown went down injured has been nothing short of special. If the argument is that Justin Holbrook should be built a statue, then you could argue Smith's performances, particularly on Sunday, have him in the running two.
He came up with the game changing plays, and was involved in just about everything for the Knights, as he has been for weeks.
For a guy who has spent a lot of time off the bench this year, it's only proven that he can't do that again in 2027.
Smith halfback, Brown five-eighth, and Fletcher Sharpe probably has to become Dane Gagai's replacement in the centres. There is no way around that.
Dane Gagai proves age is just a number
Speaking of Gagai - wow.
The Brisbane Broncos have been somewhat panned for their 2027 recruitment, of which Gagai is one.
Not so much the quality of the players, but their ages. Gagai, in a game that is getting faster and faster, has had some tough moments this year.
Sunday was not one of them.
His experience came to the fore for Holbrook's side, running big metres, making a number of tackle breaks, and putting in some huge defensive work.
Pretty phenomenal performance from the former Queensland representative who will need to be at his best again next weekend if the Knights are to control the Roosters outside backs.
System player or not, Dylan Edwards will be Penrith's most important again in 2027
Dylan Edwards is often critiqued under the notion that he is nothing more than a system player.
You could look at his representative performances and potentially mount the case, or, you could acknowledge that his efforts for the Panthers are a big chunk of the reason they have played seven straight preliminary finals.
He finished Sunday with 224 metres from 20 runs, and another seven tackle breaks.
Metres from the back is how Penrith build their game, and Edwards is the market leader in that across the competition.
He will be critical to Penrith's charge again next year.
