It was Newcastle's biggest-ever victory, surpassing their 32-14 trouncing of Brisbane in the opening round.

The result meant Newcastle finished second in the regular season, with four wins from five games, and will play the third-placed Dragons in a sudden-death semi-final.

The winner will advance to the grand final, where they will face whoever emerges victorious in the other semi, between minor premiers and defending champions Sydney Roosters and fourth-placed Parramatta.

The Dragons scored the opening try against Newcastle and scores were locked at 8-all midway through the first half.

But with 17-year-old halfback Jesse Southwell again pulling the strings like a seasoned veteran, the Knights gradually established their all-round superiority.

Afterwards, Southwell revealed that advice from Knights legend Andrew Johns was a catalyst for his performance.

"Joey's the best there ever was and ever will be, I reckon," Southwell told Channel Nine.

"He's been helping me out heaps. He sent me a message before today's game, just telling me to push and I can play flat and fast and do my job off the back of the forwards."

Southwell, who recently returned from winning a rugby union sevens gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, required an exemption to play in the NRLW because she is yet to turn 18.

While she has been attracting rave reviews, she said she had not been satisfied with her form.

"Our forwards, I reckon, are the best in the competition," she said.

"The past couple of weeks I haven't been doing my job well enough.

"Today, especially, it felt like I was almost there but not quite there. Just making sure I can do my job off the back of their awesome work is the big one."

She suggested Newcastle realised the value of a big win against the team they will play in the semi-finals.

"In our minds, we just wanted to leave a bit of a scar for next week and make sure that we can win the big one," she said.

Both teams were without key players who are expected to return for the semi.

Newcastle again rested fullback Tamika Upton, who has a calf problem, while the Dragons were without Test back-rower Kezie Apps.

The two sides went try for try until Newcastle gained the ascendancy late in the first half.

The second half was a shut-out as the Knights added two more tries and kept their own line intact.

Newcastle's tryscorers were Olivia Higgins, Kiana Takairangi, Jessica Gentle, Emmanita Paki, Emma Manzelmann and Makenzie Weale, while Southwell kicked three conversions.

The multi-talented Gentle, who has also been playing in the Northern NSW NPL soccer competition, was making her NRLW debut.

AAP reports: NRLW heavyweights Brisbane will miss the finals series for the first time in the competition's history after a 28-16 loss to Parramatta, who have surged from the bottom of the table to the play-offs.

Brisbane won the first three NRLW premierships but finished the season with 1-4 record.

In the second game of the NRLW triple-header at Central Coast Stadium, the Sydney Roosters defeated Gold Coast 38-12 to finish the regular season undefeated.

Gold Coast's season, meaning neither Queensland team will feature in the semi-finals at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium next week.

Heading into the last round, the Broncos, Gold Coast and Parramatta all had chances to lock up fourth place and a finals spot.

The Eels were the only winless team of the three but by muscling up to beat the Broncos by more than six points were able to leapfrog the Queensland sides on points differential.

Forwards Kennedy Cherrington and Simaima Taufa spearheaded the team's physical effort, running for more than 250 metres each and scoring late tries that confirmed the most memorable win of Parramatta's short NRLW history.

"The performance was something I'm really proud of and something I'll remember for as long as I stay in footy," Eels coach Dean Widders said.

Both of the Eels' captains, Taufa and centre Tiana Penitani appear in doubt for next week's semi-finals with leg injuries, however.

"We'll have some assessment to do on everyone this week," Widders said.

"There are some tough injuries there. It's getting to that point in the season."

Broncos coach Kelvin Wright said Brisbane failed to meet the standards of their NRLW rivals this year as he lamented their poor discipline on Sunday.

"I thought today we just put ourselves under too much pressure right from the start of the game with the errors that we were giving up," he said.

Up 14-6 at halftime, Parramatta could not turn pressure into points early in the second half and threatened to slip out of the contest when Ali Brigginshaw masterminded a Broncos comeback.

But Taufa burst over to restore the Eels' lead with nine minutes to play, before partner-in-crime Cherrington sealed the result on the right.

The victory helped the Eels exorcise their demons from last year, when a last-round loss to the Broncos ruled them out of the play-offs.

With a victory of 15 or more points, the Titans could have ousted the Eels from fourth but were left to rue a slow start that had them down 12-0 after 14 minutes.

Gold Coast took it up to the reigning premiers in the second half, the sides scoring two tries apiece, but the Titans were unable to close the gap and will finish the season on the bottom of the ladder.

Roosters captain Isabelle Kelly said her side's best was yet to come.

"Every week we're getting better so we just need to stay humble within that and take the victories as they come," she said.

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