'He didn't have to do what he did': how this Knights supporter's day was saved by an unexpected hero

Ross Kilpatrick was trying to accept that he was probably going to miss the game.

The afternoon was already wearing on, and he was tired. It had taken him hours to get this far, and still he had barely made it beyond Lake Macquarie.

A broken-down freight train on the line had ground other trains to a stop, and transport officials were scrambling to get as many supporters as they could to the city in time. But even those services that did manage to trickle through were already heaving.

And, to top it all off, it looked like rain.

Mr Kilpatrick, 71, was stuck on the platform at Morisset with nothing to comfort him but a banana, a few crackers, and cheese from the supermarket across the street.

He did not know it yet, but his bad day was about to become one of the best, and most memorable, of his life.

"I was starting to make the decision," he said. "I'm walking back to the station to get on the train and go back to Newcastle."

"Then this car drove up with these two young blokes. The driver said, 'Hey mate, are you going to the stadium?'"

For at least a fleeting moment, Mr Kilpatrick thought these were the situations parents warn their children about. Strangers pull up in the car near a train station. The story had all the hallmarks of a cautionary tale.

But his team had made the preliminary final for the first time in years. If the Newcastle Knights won that Sunday afternoon, they would be going to the NRL grand final for the first time since 2001.

"I thought, 'ah bloody hell, you don't do this, but bugger it'."

Mr Kilpatrick jumped in.

The passenger introduced himself as Louie, and said the driver's name was Max. They got chatting as the car peeled out and took the odd shortcut trying to avoid the worst of the traffic on the motorway, also clogged with the exodus of Newcastle supporters invading the city to cheer on the club that had defied all expectations for the season.

The younger boys had just come from training at Maitland, they had said. That, Mr Kilpatrick thought, explained the soccer balls.

They made it to Granville and dashed for a connecting train to the stadium, and at some point the boys asked Mr Kilpatrick if he recognised them. Mr Kilpatrick was at a loss. He had figured the boys were footballers, but had only exchanged names.

He sent a message to his son-in-law, Matt: "Who plays football, is called Max, and was training in Maitland today?"

Matt shot back: "It's the bloody Jets' captain, Max Burgess!"

"I couldn't believe it," Mr Kilpatrick told the Newcastle Herald this week. "I can't believe what he did for me."

Mr Kilpatrick pulled his Knights scarf from his bag and draped it over the Jets' captain's shoulders. They snapped a photo together for Mr Kilpatrick's grandson, and then fell into the roar of the crowd at the stadium.

"I never would have made it to the game without them," Mr Kilpatrick said. "I would have went home and missed what would have been the greatest event of my life."

The Knights played brilliantly, a man down, to clinch a thrilling win over the Panthers and secure a return to the grand final more than 20 years in the making.

Mr Kilpatrick was born in the Hunter. His father was an enlisted Air Force man and worked at Coal Point. They moved to Wagga Wagga, and eventually Malaysia, and later back to Sydney where Mr Kilpatrick spent more than 50 years as a Panthers supporter.

When his grandson was born in the Hunter and, as he says, "brought up red and blue", Mr Kilpatrick eventually returned home about 2010 and traded his old Penrith colours for the hometown club.

"I was born here," he said. "I'm going for Newcastle."

Mr Kilpatrick shared his story with the Newcastle Jets supporters page online this week, and expressed his thanks to the club and its captain for his generosity.

"I wanted to let everyone know at the Jets that their captain is a bloody good bloke," he said. "He didn't have to do what he did, but he had two seats left in his car and thought, 'that bloke's all dressed up to go and he's not going'."

Mr Kilpatrick's journey to Sydney that weekend took more than eight hours. But, he says now, he wouldn't change a second of it.

"I don't know what else I can add. All I know is that I'll never forget it."

The Newcastle Jets were approached for comment.