Bringing the Knockout home
For the Newcastle Yowies, hosting the Knockout in the Hunter also means bringing the carnival back to their local community.
“This is where our families are based and to be able to bring the carnival back to our community, it’s been a real honour,” Faulkner said.
Yowies worked with Port Stephens Council and local community before settling on Raymond Terrace, with Faulkner saying the club also met local Elders and sought permission to bring the carnival to Country.
Organisers are expecting between 10,000 and 15,000 people a day, with Faulkner estimating 40,000 to 50,000 people could pass through the gates across the weekend.
"This event will give local families the opportunity to experience a premier cultural event close to home and the increase in visitors is expected to boost local businesses and accommodation across the October long weekend,” Port Stephens Mayor Leah Anderson said.
“Excitement is already building as the event starts to take shape. Our crews are working hard to ensure the King Park is tournament ready, with new goal posts installed, and drainage works completed – the fields are looking fantastic,” she said.
More than footy
For the Yowies, the weekend also brings the chance to defend the title that earned them hosting rights in the first place. In 2025, Newcastle won four grand finals on the final day of the Knockout, including the men’s and women’s titles.
But the Knockout has long been about much more than the results on the field.
Faulkner described rugby league as “a great vehicle to be able to bring people together”, with the carnival providing an opportunity for Aboriginal communities to reconnect, celebrate culture and spend time with family.
A new health and wellbeing precinct will also form part of this year’s event, providing space for community members to come together and yarn about health and wellbeing. The initiative has been developed with the local Worimi community and land council.
The event will also put community connections front and centre. Faulkner said some teams are made up almost entirely of relatives, while others bring together family and friends with links stretching across communities and state borders.
Elite talent meets grassroots footy
The Knockout is a major part of what has become a massive weekend of rugby league for the Hunter – one of the heartland districts for the code in New South Wales – with the Newcastle Knights appearing in their first NRL grand final in a quarter of a century on Sunday.
The Knockout regularly attracts NRL talent, with some of rugby league’s biggest names turning out alongside grassroots players.
Faulkner said players including Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell, Jack Wighton, Brian Kelly and Will Kennedy have been among those to return to the carnival and represent their communities in recent years.
Their presence can also have an impact away from the scoreboard, with Faulkner saying professional players bring experience and higher standards back into community teams.
“So it’s such a blessing to have those boys come back and teach these young fellas from community what it’s like to be a professional athlete,” he said.
The football itself is unforgiving. Men’s matches begin with 20-minute halves, with teams potentially playing several games across the weekend. Semi-finals increase to 30-minute halves before the grand final is played over the full 40 minutes each way.
“The standard is massive and the format makes it really competitive,” Faulkner said.
CommBank heads to Raymond Terrace
CommBank will again be at the Koori Knockout in 2026, with the CommBank Tour travelling to Raymond Terrace across the long weekend.
The tour will also feature Yarnteen Ltd, a Newcastle-based Aboriginal charity and not-for-profit organisation supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through education, training, employment and business development opportunities.
