Newcastle Knights

After finishing last season in 15th place the Warriors have produced a remarkable turnaround in 2023 and are now just 80 minutes away from a first grand final appearance since 2011.

A mistake by Knights winger Greg Marzhew in the opening set of the game opened the door for Shaun Johnson to lay on a try for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who left Bradman Best in his wake to make it 4-0.

A win over the Warriors would see the Knights equal the club record of 11 in a row, set back in 2001-02 when an Immortal named Johns was the hottest ticket in town.

After sending the Knights faithful home happy on Sunday, Adam O'Brien's men now need to find a way to win in a hostile environment in Auckland against a Warriors outfit that showed plenty of grit in its loss to the Panthers.

After extra time was required to separate the two sides, who were tied at 28-28 at the end of normal time, it was a Hudson Young penalty for offside which presented Ponga with the chance to kick his side to a 10th straight victory and confirm a showdown with the Warriors in Auckland on Saturday.

It was a finals game without precedent, marred by an allegation of biting made by Tyson Gamble against Jack Wighton, but which will be defined by so much more.  

Three tries in the final 27 minutes lifted Newcastle to victory, after they had trailed the Dolphins 22-12 with half an hour to play, with skipper Kalyn Ponga at the heart of the revival which leaves the Knights undefeated in their last five games. 

Ponga scored the opening four-pointer of the game off a long-range support run and went on to set up his side's final two tries with clutch plays, along with clocking up 179 run metres from just 10 carries. 

Newcastle left the Raiders in a state of shock with a commanding first-half performance which saw them run up 20 unanswered points, and while the scoring rate dropped off in the second 40 minutes, Newcastle's intensity didn't and the Raiders were never really in the contest. 

Even with the result secured, the Knights came up with some huge goal-line efforts in the final five minutes to deny Canberra consolation tries. 

Newcastle's impressive victory over the Storm moved them to within one point of the top eight, filling the Knights faithful with hope that a return to the finals is a very real possibility.

With Kalyn Ponga in supreme form and their forwards rumbling through the middle of the ruck, Newcastle have piled on 126 points in the past three games to take their points differential into positive territory at +42.

With Jarome Luai, Isaah Yeo, Stephen Crichton, Brian To'o and Liam Martin watching from the sideline with injured halfback Nathan Cleary, Peachey stepped up to help ensure the premiers remain in the top two.

Dylan Edwards took over the captaincy and the fullback set the tone for the match when he stepped Knights opposite Kalyn Ponga to score in the ninth minute after an angled Peachey run towards the posts created an opening near the line.

After playing out a golden point thriller two months ago, the Panthers and Knights meet again after both suffering narrow losses in Round 16. 

The Panthers on the other hand were the competition's hottest team prior to suffering defeat at the hands of the Cowboys in golden point last Friday, in what was their first loss since the end of April. 

Penrith have had it all over the Knights in recent times and haven't lost to them in their past seven meetings, while stretching back to 2014 Newcastle have tasted victory over this week's opponent just twice in 16 meetings. 

Keary left the field in the 25th minute and didn't return after collecting the boot of Knights winger Dom Young while attempting a tackle, leaving Drew Hutchison and rookie halfback Sandon Smith to get the job done at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The pair's task was made significantly easier by a huge effort from stand-in fullback Joey Manu, who put his hand up for 29 carries resulting in 317 run metres, in addition to scoring a try to ensure his side lost little in the absence of captain James Tedesco.

With Nicho Hynes and Will Kennedy in slashing form the Sharks racked up a seventh win of the season to join the Panthers, Rabbitohs and Broncos on 16 competition points.

The Sharks struck first in the seventh minute when Kennedy sliced through the Knights' left side defence to grab his 11th try of the season.

Five minutes later the Sharks looked to have a second when Hynes finished off brilliant lead-up work by Connor Tracey but the try was ruled out for obstruction by Dale Finucane in the lead-up.