Newcastle is on its way to a fourth preliminary final in as many years after a dominating 34-20 win over Gold Coast at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The damage was done in Saturday’s first half as the home side took an 18-0 lead into the sheds off the back of 63% possession and a 93% completion rate.

There was a Titans bounce-back with four second-half tries but it was still too little, too late.

The Knights now meet Brisbane in next weekend’s preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium and will want a better showing than in round eight when the Broncos beat them 46-16.

“Like today, we will need to back up some of our errors with good defence,” Newcastle No. 7 Jesse Southwell said.

“We made a lot of crucial errors but our middle pack carried hard and took us forward.”

Newcastle and Gold Coast met

See Full Page