Knights turn focus to hosting NRLW semi-final on September 24, 2023

Now, the Knights are focused on winning a home semi-final at McDonald Jones Stadium on September 24 to line up a shot at defending their championship crown.

In their third NRLW campaign, Newcastle have dropped just one game to finish top of the NRLW competition ladder after nine rounds - a feat the club's men's side have never been able to achieve.

The Knights overcame a shaky start and the loss of star halfback Jesse Southwell before half-time to a leg injury to extend their winning run to seven outings by beating the eighth-placed West Tigers 28-8 at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night.

The under-strength Tigers put up a fight and led 8-6 at the break before Newcastle piled on the points in the second half.

They will enjoy a nine-day break before their next outing and have the luxury of being able to sit back over the weekend to see how the rest of the final round of NRLW plays out.

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"A marvellous achievement, the first of its kind for Newcastle," Knights coach Ron Griffiths said post-match on Thursday night.

"We didn't speak about it at all but the playing group shouldn't let the magnitude of that be lost on them.

"When you play, you want to win, and you want to achieve things and we won't lose sight of the bigger picture here, and understanding that we've got a job to do next weekend.

"But it's a fantastic achievement for our community, our club, and in particular the playing group and staff."

The Knights do not know yet who their semi-final opponent will be but it will be an elimination showdown with the winner advancing to the October 1 grand final at Accor Stadium.

Southwell's injury was cause for concern on Thursday night but Newcastle's attack did not suffer without the home-grown No.7, producing four unanswered second-half tries.

Centre Abigail Roache scored tries in the 39th and 50th minutes then set up the killer blow when she took an intercept on her own try line and sprinted 70 metres before being stopped by Tigers winger Jakiya Whitfield.

Moments later, Knights fullback Tamika Upton, in another outstanding performance, put Yasmin Clydsdale into a hole to score in the 57th minute.

Olivia Higgins put the game beyond reach with a try in the 66th minute after a darting run out of dummy-half.

In the absence of Southwell, NRLW rookie and former Young Matildas captain Sheridan Gallagher took on the kicking duties and was successful with four of her five attempts.

Gallagher dove across the tryline in the 14^th minute after a cut-out pass from Southwell found the winger within striking range but the latter went down after copping contact to her left upper leg in the process.

"She's good," Griffiths said of Southwell.

"It just looks like it's a cork. She'll go for some precautionary scans tomorrow."

Centre Rikeya Horne busted through the line to score in the right corner for the Tigers in the 20th minute after the hosts capitalised on consecutive errors by the Knights.

West then went up 8-6 in the 28th minute when Rebecca Pollard scored after a devastating run by Whitfield.

"Our team is built on grit, so one thing with us, even though our attack mightn't have been as fluent tonight without Jesse, and obviously a late shuffle with Caitlin Moran, but our defensive grit was what won the game in the end," Griffiths said.

Moran came into the starting line-up for injured English five-eighth Georgia Roche (hamstring).