Newcastle have set up a winner-takes-all final-round clash with the Dolphins after Kalyn Ponga inspired the Knights to a 36-14 win over Gold Coast in his best game of the season.
With the Knights needing a win to stay in the finals hunt, Ponga scored Newcastle's first two tries to help them go from 4-0 down to 30-4 up at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
The result makes for a promoter's dream for the NRL, with the last match of the regular season between the Knights and Dolphins to decide eighth spot.
But Newcastle's win over a Titans side with nothing to play for also spelled bad news for a number of other teams, with Brisbane's finals hopes now officially over.
St George Illawarra and Canberra's seasons are also effectively finished, with only a draw between the Dolphins and Knights able to open the door for them.
Newcastle will get back-rowers Kai Pearce Paul and Tyson Frizell back for the Dolphins clash next Sunday at McDonald Jones Stadium.
And they will also enter the game knowing Ponga is playing the best football he has all year.
After an injury-interrupted season that had netted him only one try before Sunday, Ponga showed glimpses of his best against South Sydney last week.
And the fullback set the tone early again for the Knights on Sunday, with a line-break in the sixth minute.
Newcastle should have scored off the back of it, but when Greg Marzhew failed to get the ball down and Jojo Fifita went 60 metres to score in the next set, the Titans led 4-0.
Then it was up to Ponga to lift his side back into the contest.
He put his stamp on the game when he got the ball 10 metres out and ran through a gaping hole between David Fifita and Jayden Campbell to score.
The fullback also had his fingerprints all over the Knights' next before the break, after earning a penalty out of his own end via a ruck infringement.
On the next set the Newcastle No.1 took the ball to the line and went short to Dylan Lucas, who offloaded for Bradman Best before Ponga loomed on the inside to score.
And with the game still in the balance, it was last year's Dally M Medallist who again got Newcastle going after the break.
The fullback skipped into a hole on the left edge and sent a ball away while falling to the ground, before Dane Gagai put Fletcher Sharpe over on the right next play.
"A good performance isn't based on how many tries you score, but the boys definitely let me know during the week that I was on a dry spell," Ponga said.
"I just wanted to be in the game early, and just be in it. I felt like I did that today, and off the back of that you get lucky every now and then."
Sharpe finished with a hat-trick in an eight-minute period, while Best looked dangerous in his first game back from a hamstring injury as he topped 200 metres.
"It's a nice feeling knowing we are in control of our future," Ponga said.
"I am calling for the Hunter to get around us and give us that support next week. It's do-or-die for us next week."
