Titans book finals berth after late try sinks Knights

The Titans have come from behind to beat Newcastle and book their spot in the NRLW finals with a 14-10 win at Suncorp Stadium.

Gold Coast broke a 10-10 deadlock with three minutes left through Karina Brown after Newcastle frustrated Jamie Feeney's side for most of the contest in a much-improved defensive performance after leaking 40 points last week.

The victory ensures the Titans will finish in the top four and will face the Dragons next week at Leichhardt Oval in a Grand Final qualifier.

The Knights crossed first through AFLW convert Paige Parker when she collected an Autumn-Rain Stephens kick to score out wide on debut.

It wasn't until the 55th minute, when Titans prop Jess Elliston collected a Brittany Breayley-Nati kick from short range, that the Knights' defence started to open up.

An inspired effort from Steph Hancock, who kicked the ball twice and placed pressure on the Knights ended in Kirra Dibb booting the ball out on the full in the same set.

From there, the Titans struck on the left edge through Hailee-Jay Maunsell to hit the lead.

However, Newcastle returned serve late to level the scores via Katelyn Vaha'akolo before Brown's try got the Titans out of jail again late.

Match snapshot

• The Knights completed at 51% to continue their trend of poor completion rates throughout the competition, with 14 errors to the Knights 10.
• The Titans enjoyed 61% of possession to the Knights 39%.
• Titans prop Jessika Elliston scored the first try of her NRLW career.
• Knights centre Paige Parker scored the first try of her NRLW career.
• The Titans led the offload count 12-4 and the tackle breaks 35-22.
• Autumn-Rain Stephens left the field late with a facial injury.
• The Titans will now face the Dragons in their Grand Final qualifier next week.

Play of the game

Jamie Feeney's decision to inject Cobie-Jane Morgan late in the contest proved a masterstroke with the Titans clicking into gear to hit the lead. Morgan produced the final pass for Karina Brown to cross late for the match-winner.

What they said

"We need to have higher expectations on ourselves to make sure we're turning up bringing our best selves every week. So far we haven't done that but, hopefully, semi finals and the pressure that puts on us brings the best out of us." — Titans coach Jamie Feeney

"There was a number of girls that debuted this season which is always going to be a special time. The Knights are a new team in this campaign, so we just went out to prove ourselves. The team is going to build from here — this is the first campaign and the inaugural one for the Knights." — Knights captain Romy Teitzel

What's Next

Gold Coast will face St. George-Illawarra next week at Leichhardt Oval for a place in the Grand Final. The two sides have not met since Round 1, when the Dragons emerged with a 20-12 win.

Newcastle will take a break and watch the finals from the couch before turning their attention to their second campaign later in 2022. With the contracting window for the official 2022 NRLW season opening last Wednesday, the club will start to plan for retention and recruit.