Blue snags and a fleet of buses: city swept up in Knights' final fever

About 80 kilograms of blue sausages, 25 chartered buses, and hundreds of school students proudly wearing Knights colours.

It's fair to say Newcastle is afflicted with a serious bout of NRL footy finals fever.

That fever will reach boiling point at 3pm on Sunday when tens of thousands of Novocastrians are expected to march the 650 metres from the Brewery Bar and Kitchen at Olympic Park to Accor Stadium.

And if the Knights can somehow deliver arguably the biggest upset since their 1988 inception and defeat the powerhouse Penrith Panthers, the city will go absolutely bonkers next week before the grand final.

Louis Donnelly, the manager of Craig Cook - The Natural Butcher at Kotara, got in early last week by creating blue sausages in the lead-up to the semi-final against the New Zealand Warriors.

That demand has skyrocketed this week as hungry Knights fans snapped up 80 kilograms of blue pork sausages.

"It catches everyone's eye. There's been a lot of interest," Mr Donnelly said.

"There's been mixed reviews. Some people say, 'I wouldn't eat that,' and others love it. I've had a lot of people getting them for work barbecues."

Food dye is used to change the sausages' colour, and they remain blue once they're cooked.

"I tried to do the red last week, but they didn't turn out. They ended up coming out a more orange colour. I didn't want to have Parra in there, so I thought I'd stick with the blue."

Sid Foggs Coaches will transport at least 1000 people to Accor Stadium on Sunday in 18 confirmed buses.

Interest has exploded over the past fortnight. Only three coaches travelled down week one of the finals when the Knights beat South Sydney 20-10 at Allianz Stadium.

Sid Foggs' manager, Phil Bromley, said the demand has been incredible.

"Unfortunately our website is full up at the moment," Mr Bromley said. "We can't take anymore. We have a lot of subcontractors going already."

And if the path to the grand final opens on Sunday evening, Mr Bromley said Sid Foggs was gearing up to service what is expected to be unprecedented demand.

"It depends on other companies, as we only have 20 [coaches] ourselves," he said.

"We could go up to 30 to 40 [coaches] if we needed to; it will depend on the fans and how keen they are."

Beresfield's Diggers Shuttle Service was still taking bookings on Friday, with eight coaches already booked, plus an additional two private buses hired.

"Our numbers are increasing, and we're still getting calls about it," Diggers Shuttle Service booking manager Christine Francis said.

Ms Francis is hoping fans will return grinning on Sunday night.

"We'll all be sitting back waiting, and as soon as that result comes through on Sunday night, it'll be all systems go again," she said.

Children across the Hunter were also embracing Knights footy fever.

At Waratah Public School, students were encouraged to wear their favourite sports team colours to celebrate the end of term three.

Red and blue of the Knights was overwhelmingly the most popular colour scheme in the playground.

The school even played the NRL club's theme song, Long Live The Newcastle Knights, by Novocastrian country star Morgan Evans over their PA system.