Newcastle Knights coach Justin Holbrook is confident the team will absorb the loss of Phoenix Crossland if he is ruled out of the 2026 Grand Final with a suspension.
Crossland was referred directly to the judiciary after he hip-dropped Nathan Cleary in the preliminary final, resulting in the Panthers halfback suffering a gruesome compound fracture.
The Kiwis representative hooker has had a standout 2026 campaign, picking up the Knights Player of the Year Award and has made a massive contribution to their finals success, but faces a nervous wait to find out his punishment.
Holbrook is adamant the Knights will "get on with it" no matter which way the result of Tuesday night's judiciary falls.
"I'll see how all that pans out. But look, in terms of the player he's been for (us), he's been enormous," Holbrook said on Channel 7's Agenda Setters: Rugby League.
"He got our Player of the Year award, and I love everything that he does. He typifies our style of play, the region that he represents.
"Not a great situation for Phoenix or our team. We've dealt with that all year, so we'll deal with it again this week, whichever way it pans out, and we'll get on with it. We've done a great job of that, and that'll have to continue."
Holbrook was full of praise for his side's effort after Crossland was sent from the field following the incident with Cleary in the 35th minute.
The Knights were down 14-6 at half-time and faced an uphill battle with the one-man overlap for the remaining stanza.
It has brought plenty of confidence to Holbrook heading into the Grand Final that his side could overcome such adversity.
"Couldn't be prouder. I think that's the best win I've been involved in," he added.
"Look, we definitely needed half-time. We sort of all got a bit rattled by the whole situation. Then we had a good discussion on what we had to do and how we had to do it.
"We're always confident in our attack, even though we had 12. But obviously it was going to be defensively where we had to work extremely hard and come up with some big plays, and that happened throughout the second half.
"Really thrilled on a huge win for us. It was unreal."
The Knights face the Sydney Roosters in the Grand Final on Sunday as the novocastrians chase their first title in 25 years.
