What. A. Ride.
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Knights fans had waited 17 years to watch a home final, and boy, didn't their team deliver a thriller.
A come-from-behind victory, extra-time, multiple runaway tries, a lost halfback, a biting accusation, an error-riddled first half and a pulsating McDonald Jones Stadium packed with 29,548 fans.
At half-time in Sunday's elimination final, club legend Andrew Johns said the Knights were facing their "biggest test in the past two months".
"The last nine weeks, everything has gone Newcastle's way," Johns said.
In the opening 40 minutes, very little had gone their way.
They trailed 16-6 at the break, Jackson Hastings had succumbed to a leg injury and nerves had settled in among the home fans.
Newcastle had all the energy early on, backed by a heaving crowd of Novocastrians enjoying the club's first home final since 2006, and were able to post the first points just seven minutes in.
They then defended like their lives depended on it as the Raiders had multiple repeat sets early in the first half.
But they were their own worst enemy, making eight errors, multiple of which led to Canberra points.
It was starting to seem like they would need a miracle in the second half, even more so when Hastings failed to return to the field.
But it started to turn not long after the break.
Prop Jack Hetherington put on a huge shot which pumped up the crowd just as much as it did his teammates, and a biting accusation then really got things going.
In a seemingly innocuous tackle, Tyson Gamble had wrapped his forearm around the lower face of Raiders centre Jack Wighton, and then emerged claiming he had been bitten.
Video replays looked damning, with what appeared to be noticeable teeth impressions on Gamble's arm.
Wighton was put on report, but there would be no penalty, no sin-bin, no send-off.
The incident fired up everyone wearing red and blue.
Two minutes afterwards, Knights fullback Kalyn Ponga finished off a Kurt Mann break to score his side's second try and reduce the deficit to just four points.
Five minutes later, he set up Dominic Young on the right edge for a try. Young then put Dane Gagai away for a four-pointer on the same flank in the ensuing set.
Young scored his second in the 62nd minute, but Canberra wouldn't go away.
Matt Frawley scored two minutes after Young, and former Knight Tom Starling crashed over three minutes before full-time.
With a minute remaining, the scores were level at 28-all. Tyson Gamble charged down a field goal just before the full-time hooter to send the game to extra-time.
Then, 90 seconds before the end of the second period of extra time, it just had to be - Ponga winning the game with a penalty goal.
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