The winding corridor was lined with pop-up gazebos and, after a prolonged assault on the senses - the heaving crowd, the myriad activities, the heat, the anticipation of what awaited - you arrived at the end destination.

And that destination had been transformed: the Plain Street Playing Fields - the open, expansive home to sports such as junior rugby league, oztag and cricket - was now an enclosed venue featuring four NRL-quality rugby league fields and thousands of people moving in every direction like ants.

This was the scene on the opening day of the 2025 Koori Knockout in Tamworth - a scene that was repeated over the following three days until the annual Indigenous rugby league happening, staged in Tamworth for the first time, crescendoed on finals day.

Among the players and onlook

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