Knights 17
Storm 16
KEY POINTS:
The armour-plated Knghts took a giant stride towards the finals last night, at the same time denting the Storm's hopes of a third successive minor premiership.
The Knights soaked up enormous pressure and a last-minute charge from a stuttering Storm in a match that had massive ramifications for
next weekend's final round.
With Manly expected to win with some comfort against the Titans tomorrow night, they could lead the points table on differential from Melbourne and Cronulla going into the final round.
With Melbourne home to Souths, Manly away to Penrith and Cronulla home to North Queensland, none will be expected to drop points meaning it will be effectively a points differential battle between the Storm and Sea Eagles. At the moment the Storm have a 10-point buffer though Manly have that game in hand.
As for the Knights, they will feel they have one foot in the finals door.
As they hold a handy points differential, they will feel that one of the Warriors, Penrith or Parramatta will have to win twice to knock them out of contention. With the Warriors and Penrith meeting today, that will eliminate one team and the Warriors play Parramatta next week.
This was not vintage league by any stretch, rather it was a grim struggle as the Knights used every sinew they had to ensure their play-off hopes didn't die in front of a partisan home crowd.
They harassed the Storm into mistake after mistake and the visitors barely put together a fluent set of six as the match was played almost exclusively between the 20s.
It was an indication of how the game went that two of the Storm's three tries were opportunistic.
Greg Inglis scored from an intercept midway through the first and a kick regather by Israel Folau early in the second was their last score until the dying minutes.
Despite dominating possession and territory in the second half the Storm rarely looked like scoring, though veteran wing Matt Geyer was pulled down short when it looked easier to score.
"You have to give the Knights credit," downbeat Storm skipper Cameron Smith said. "They came here to play."
While the minor premiership was in his thoughts, it wasn't front and centre.
"The boys have to have a real big game... against the Bunnies [Souths] to get it back but our main concern at the moment is just to be better," he said.
The Knights will just be hoping for more of the same in Brisbane next week.