The Roosters claimed the 2026 NRL premiership on Sunday night by a single point, sending Daly Cherry-Evans out a premiership winner and ending the Knights’ first grand final appearance in 25 years in heartbreak. Yet it was the Knights’ story and a region’s nostalgia for its glory days that drove the online conversation according to new Meltwater data.
The NRL Grand Final generated 29,000 mentions and 2.2 million engagements on grand final day, less than the AFL grand final’s 2.8 million. Without a pre-game drawcard, the grand final pulled in fewer casual viewers online: activation and fan experience engagement reached just over 81,000 on grand final day, compared with over 500,ooo for the AFL.
Instagram was the top social channel for NRL engagement, driving 2.73 million engagements (53 per cent of total) over the last two weeks.
“The Roosters won the premiership, but Newcastle won the story. A year ago the Knights finished with the wooden spoon. This year they came within a single point of a title. People connected with that journey, and it showed: the Knights out-engaged the Roosters across the period, and many of the biggest moments had very little to do with the action on the field,” said Ross Candido, VP ANZ at Meltwater.
The Knights Effect
The Roosters lifted the trophy, but the Knights won the conversation, out-engaging the Roosters 2.26 million to 1.55 million, including on grand final day itself (613,000 vs 454,000). From wooden spooners last season to its first grand final since 2001, Newcastle’s run was powered by two things: nostalgia and a region getting behind its team.
Posts looking back at the Knights’ history drew over 200,000 engagements among the period’s top coverage.
The most-engaged post of the entire period, grand final night included, wasn’t about this year’s team at all. 7NEWS Sydney’s replay of Matty Johns’ “better than Lego” interview from the morning after the 1997 premiership drew 74,400 on Instagram, and over 110,000 across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Newcastle’s first big spike came on 27 September, when they beat the Panthers to reach its first Grand Final in 25 years, with 283 thousand engagements.
A region and its brands behind the team
Knights partners were mentioned more than 2,000 times, compared with just 60 for Roosters partners.
Knights partner McDonald Jones Homes, whose name is on the club’s home ground, was the biggest winner. Mentions of McDonald Jones jumped from three or four a day to 196 on 30 September, when the NSW Government backed a free live site at McDonald Jones Stadium after calls from across the Hunter. The live site sold out, and an open training session drew 12,000 fans.
The Betoota Advocate’s Instagram post captured the mood, satirising 50,000 Novocastrians as a Mad Max-style convoy heading down the M1 to face the Panthers, receiving 17,600 engagements.
“What drove the conversation was how people felt. A 29-year-old Matty Johns interview became one of the most engaging pieces of content of the entire period, while the prospect of a Silverchair reunion generated more than four times the engagement of the night’s opening act. Audiences were responding to pride, memory and a region that had started to believe again. The live site, old premiership memories, fans travelling down the M1 and even a reunion that never happened all became part of the Grand Final story. Losing by a point didn’t end that feeling; it deepened it,” continued Candido.
“For brands, that emotional connection is where the biggest opportunities sit. Hostplus’s tribute to the retiring class out-engaged the music entertainment on Grand Final night, while McDonald Jones Homes became part of Newcastle’s Grand Final experience as thousands of fans gathered at the stadium. Neither simply attached a logo to the occasion. They tapped into moments audiences already cared deeply about.
Pre-Game Plans Go Off Script:
Negotiations with Tones and I reportedly collapsed over whether “Dance Monkey” would be performed, leaving the NRL without an expected headline act and prompting criticism, jokes and replacement suggestions. The Sydney Morning Herald’s TikTok broke the story and news.com.au’s Facebook post reached 3.66 million.
Fans looked closer to home, urging Newcastle’s own Silverchair to reunite. The band declined, saying they backed the Knights but were too rusty to play, yet the reunion that never happened drew 71,800 engagements, more than four times Amy Shark (16,700), who opened the actual pre-game show.
On the night, the program shifted towards remembrance, with a tribute to Jai Arrow and Nathan Charles set to “You’ll Never Walk Alone“, drawing 46,400. Coverage called the tribute emotional, but the wider entertainment drew mixed reviews.
Hostplus was the standout tournament sponsor on grand final day, with 92,000 engagements. It presented the NRL’s tribute to the retiring class of 2026, which outperformed the night’s music entertainment: the NRL’s Facebook post reached 3.32 million and drew 15,800 engagements, with another 13,600 on Instagram.
“Major sporting events now create thousands of signals about what people are responding to, who is shaping the conversation and where momentum is building. The brands that can read not just what’s being said but how people feel, and spot the stories gaining emotional traction early, have a much better chance of becoming part of the moment rather than simply appearing alongside it,” concluded Candido.
