The Newcastle Knights have closed in on their first NRLW minor premiership and all but secured an historic home semi-final, and captain Hannah Southwell has no doubt they can win another grand final too.
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The Knights made a big statement in routing the Sydney Roosters 20-4 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the competition's penultimate round.
The commanding win, built on defensive resolve, in the top-of-the-table clash moved Newcastle into the outright lead with just one round remaining.
The Knights, on 14 points, are two points clear of the Roosters (12 points) and Titans as they eye the eighth-placed West Tigers (four points) in Campbelltown on Thursday night.
The two top teams host semi-finals and Newcastle's for-and-against difference is far superior to the Titans'.
The Knights went from wooden spooners in their first season to grand final winners in their second.
Now, the minor premiership is theirs to lose.
"We've got one round to go, so the job's not complete, but I think that would be something unreal for Newcastle and the town," Southwell said on Saturday.
"We can't thank the town enough for getting behind us ... our defensive resolve was unbelievable and I think that's what won us the game.
"We just have to fix up a few things in attack and I think we can go all the way."
Going into the round-eight exchange, the Roosters were averaging almost seven tries per game with the best attacking and defensive record in the league.
But the Knights' suffocating defence kept their opponents to just one try. That came through fullback Corban Baxter two minutes before half-time to ensure the teams were locked 4-4 at the break after Newcastle's lethal Tamika Upton had scored the first try of a match double in the 24th minute.
The hosts added three unanswered tries in the second half. Upton combined with Yasmin Clydsdale to score again in the 40th minute before diffusing a Roosters attacking play close to her own tryline six minutes later then running 60 metres to put Newcastle within striking range for Jasmin Strange's try.
Knights halfback Jesse Southwell then powered, stepped and shimmied her way through several Roosters players to score from 30 metres out in the 64th minute. Southwell booted two of four attempts at goal.
"I thought our defensive grit and resolve was fantastic," Knights coach Ron Griffiths said.
"We were clunky at times in attack. I thought there were some really good individual performances in attack. We didn't quite nail our execution.
"We spoke a lot about the detail this week but again we've built the last four weeks on being able to be a great defensive unit ... This group of players won a grand final last year and created history and now they get to do it again with a home semi-final, and we won't lose sight of the bigger picture either, what we've set out to achieve."
The win on Saturday was Newcastle's sixth in a row and kept them unbeaten at McDonald Jones Stadium this season.
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