Peaking Knights heed last year’s grand final lessons

For the second straight season, Riccarton Knights have hit top gear at the right time to surge into the CRL Whitehead Plumbing and Gas Men’s Premiership grand final from third spot.

After another momentous preliminary final victory on the road – this time at Linwood Park, following a Halswell Domain ambush in 2025 – Knights head coach Sean Spooner believes his side is better equipped to go one better and get their hands on the Pat Smith Trophy.

The Knights subdued Greymouth Greyhounds 20-4 in a gritty home elimination semi performance a fortnight ago.

But their 2026 form hit a new plane courtesy of an epic 24-22 triumph over defending champs Linwood Keas in last Saturday’s preliminary final. The Keas led 22-18 at halftime, but with time running out veteran hooker Justin Lynch levelled the scores with a try and Jimmy Wihongi kicked the Knights to spark wild celebrations, earning a CRL Snap Fitness Grand Final Day date with Eastern Eagles.

“We were really happy as a playing group … I think we’re really bought into a lot of the processes that we’ve been training with and we finally nutted out a few things,” Spooner said.

“The way the boys responded over the last two or three weeks for me was definitely a standout

“We’ve really focused on defence over the last two weeks and I think that’s really come to fruition, especially if we look at our last two second halves – we’ve had zero points scored against us.

“That’s the real sign of where we’re at at this stage. You’ve just got to peak at the right time of the year and as long as you do the right things, good things come off the back of that.”

Riccarton’s preliminary final boilover went some way towards exorcising the demons of the 30-6 loss to Linwood in the 2025 decider at Ngā Puna Wai – the club’s first grand final appearance in 21 years.

Spooner, a five-time grand final winner with Hornby before passing 300 premiership appearances during a stint with Riccarton, believes last year’s experience will hold the Knights in good stead on Sunday.

“We’ve learnt a lot from last year, as a whole playing group and as a club, too. We’ve picked up a lot of things.

“I think we’ll see a better performance from our guys in that case.

“I think emotionally [reaching the grand final last year] took a lot of toll on us as a club.

“So we’ve taken all those learnings and just changed the script a little bit. That’s credit to our president (Shane Tamatea) and also all the people involved at Riccarton Rugby League.”

Spooner pinpointed halves Wihongi and Te Morehu Reweti, along with front-rowers Kyle Leka and Caleb Reweti, as the experienced leaders he’ll lean on this week to carry out the gameplan.

Meanwhile, Sincere Harraway – the Mel Cooke Trophy-winning fullback in both of the Panthers’ 2021 and 2024 grand final victories – is a proven game-breaker on the big stage.

An assistant to Brent Ringdahl last season, first-year head coach Spooner also paid tribute to his 2026 assistant coaches, clubman Nepia Reweti and former Kiwi Fern Charntay Poko.

“Charntay’s been great for the team. Just her calmness around the group, you can’t really beat it,” Spooner enthused.

“She’s just an experienced campaigner who you can lean on. And also Nepia, he’s a great man to try and bounce off ideas from. And he’ll just tell me straight whether it’s good or not.

“So we’re working well as a group and I couldn’t be happier to have those two next to me.”

The Knights went down twice to the Eagles during the regular season – though their hoodoo-busting efforts against the Keas should ensure there’s few psychological hurdles to overcome.

Riccarton will also garner confidence from the teams’ most recent meeting. After a 30-16 loss at Wainoni Park in Round 2, the Knights led the Eagles 18-6 at halftime at Crosbie Park in mid-June before being run down in a 30-24 loss.

Spooner is under no illusions about the challenge the Eagles, who are appearing in the club’s first grand final since 1981, present in the Pat Smith Trophy Challenge.

“[Eastern’s] forwards will lead the way, they’ve got great forwards in Dev (Thompson) and Harold (Kolose) – they’ve been their big leaders this season along with dangerous Klayton (Waikato) and Cyrus (Timo-Latu),” Spooner said.

“They’re a  well-balanced side and we’ll definitely not be taking them lightly at all. We know they’ve got threats all over the park.

“It’s definitely going to be a great match. We know they’re going to come with a big crowd. Obviously the excitement of being in a grand final for the first time in 40-odd-years, it’s massive for their club.

“We understand that. But also from our side of it, we know that we’ve got a great support base at Riccarton and there’s a lot of people coming from our end, too. So it’s going to be a very loud crowd out there on Sunday afternoon.”

Photo credit: Abraham Atherton Photography