Tyson Frizell has waited even longer than the long-suffering Newcastle fans for Sunday's preliminary final.
Because after 16 seasons, Frizell will finally shake the tag of being the only member of the 300-game club without having appeared in a grand-final qualifier.
A rookie at Cronulla in 2011, Frizell needs no reminder of the chance that lies ahead of the Knights against Penrith at Accor Stadium.
In six separate seasons the State of Origin and Test veteran has ventured to the finals, and in every one before this year he was bundled out in the first two weeks.
"I have worked my backside off for 16 years, and I finally get the opportunity to do it now," Frizell told AAP.
"It's taken me this long to get into this position. I'm very grateful to the club and squad to get to this position.
"It's great and the boys should be proud, but that is something we can look at once the season is done.
"Right now, there is so much more we can do for everyone."
Frizell's message not to waste the opportunity is one that has reverberated around Newcastle this week, with 15 Knights players lining up for their first preliminary final.
Newcastle have never come this far without an Andrew Johns or Danny Buderus in the team, with 2013 their sole preliminary final appearance since the 2001 title.
Six members of Sunday's team weren't even alive for that 2001 decider, while lifelong Newcastle fan Cody Hopwood was aged just seven when the Knights played the 2013 preliminary final.
"You hear obviously people talking that if the Knights lose, they can be proud of what they've done," said Dane Gagai, who is the only Knight left from 2013.
"But what I'm super pumped about is no one's thinking that way. We're all thinking we want to win, we want to play in a grand final.
"Even the young fellas have said, 'no, we're not just here to do our best, we're here to win’.
"Because this is my 16th year, I've only played in one grand final and that was 2021 (with Souths Sydney) and lost that. So I've always been chasing a grand final, chasing a premiership."
Even if Newcastle players don't want to consider it in the lead up to kick off, the positive is this season does not look like an outlier.
While the Knights' 2013 run also came from seventh on the ladder, it was a clear outlier in that era of Newcastle.
Their week-one win over Canterbury marked the Knights' first finals win since 2006, while the Nathan Tinkler era and three straight wooden spoons followed between 2015 and 2017.
Newcastle's group this year appears one well set for the future with a host of young talent, while Gagai can also see a key component off the field with CEO Peter Parr and football boss Chris James.
"There's a connection with the players, the coaching staff, all the staff through the club. And that's what I had when I was at Souths," Gagai said.
"It was not the players, the coaching staff, the admin staff. Everyone's wearing the logo. We're all one. I think that's what's being created."
