The easiest thing to measure in rugby league is wins and losses.
Culture is a little harder.
Yet ask anyone inside the game, and they'll tell you it can be the difference between keeping players and losing them, filling stadiums or emptying them, building a contender or constantly rebuilding one.
While some clubs are still searching for their identity, others are embracing it.
From the Warriors and their 'Up the Wahs' movement to the rise of 'Foz Ball', these are the clubs currently getting the top grades in the NRL culture curriculum.
5. Newcastle Knights
When it was revealed Dylan Brown would be joining the Knights on a historic 10-year deal, many pundits didn't ask whether he would succeed in Newcastle. They immediately started looking for the clauses that might help him leave.
It's the same story every time Kalyn Ponga's future comes up. Every season seems to bring fresh speculation about an eventual exit. Even talented players like Kai Pearce-Paul have left the Hunter with many believing their best football was still ahead of them.
Now Newcastle feels like a club with genuine alignment. New leadership, a fresh coaching voice and smarter retention decisions have created something that was missing for years.
A major part of that shift has happened away from the football field, with the appointment of Peter Parr as CEO in late 2025. In many ways, it mirrors what's unfolding at Manly. Both clubs have undergone significant change at the executive level and are now reaping the rewards. While coaches and star players often become the face of a turnaround, a CEO can be the person who ultimately changes a club's legacy. They set the standards, shape the vision and create the environment that allows everyone else to thrive.
Culture can be a difficult thing to measure from the outside. Fans often focus on wins and losses, but those inside the game know culture is often the difference between keeping players and losing them. Between building a contender and endlessly rebuilding one.
At the end of the day, playing NRL is a job, and a club is a workplace. If players trust their coach, believe in the direction of the organisation and genuinely enjoy representing the club, they're far more likely to stay and invest themselves in its success.
The Knights are starting to see the rewards of that.
Retaining players such as Kalyn Ponga, Dylan Lucas, Harrison Graham, Tom Cant, Greg Marzhew and Jermaine McEwen isn't just good roster management. It's evidence that Newcastle has become an environment players want to be part of.
Home games continue to sell out, and every Knights victory still lifts the mood of an entire city. That's the advantage Newcastle has always possessed. Rugby league isn't just something people follow there; it's woven into the fabric of the community.
The difference now is that the club finally appears to be matching the energy of its supporters.
And if the current trajectory continues, Adam O'Brien's replacement, Justin Holbrook, may well find himself in Coach of the Year conversations before long.
For a club that spent years being defined by what it lacked, the Knights are now becoming one of the NRL's strongest examples of what happens when culture, community and football all start pulling in the same direction.
