Holdsworth was instrumental in handing the Canaries their first loss of the season but injured his ankle after making a break midway through the second half.

Initial fears were that he had broken his ankle and would certainly miss the decider in two week’s time. The prognosis was less dire in the post-match but the former Bulldogs and Sharks five-eighth will still be racing the clock to be fit for the grand final Sunday week.

“We had a few busted last week and the physio had to do some work and he’ll have a bit more to do this week,” Wests coach Brett Kimmorley said.

“The fact we’ve got two weeks now is very helpful. I don’t think it’s a broken leg or ankle, which was the first diagnosis, but it doesn’t seem that bad.

“He’s okay now so we’ll just have to wait and see whether he plays again.”

It was the kicking game of Holdsworth and halves partner Jye Mullane that brought the Devils back into match, building a mountain of pressure in the second half that ultimately saw tries two tries to Hayden Carpenter and another to Josh Daley with no answer from the Canaries.

The Devils dominated most of the early going after Junior Vaivai and Mick Murphy traded tries to lock the scores at 4-all, but found themselves down 14-4 at halftime after Joel Reddy and Troy Pieper scored in back to back sets 10 minutes before the break.

The Devils could easily have dropped their heads but instead ran in three second half tries without conceding a point to book a grand final date in two weeks’ time.

“It was great game, there hasn’t been too much between us all year,” Kimmorley said.

“We lost a few guys early and changed the plan and obviously losing DJ late was tough but it was good he guys trusted what we were doing and didn’t panic too much.

“We were in control for about 25 minutes and then they blew us away leading into halftime so it was certainly very important we got some tackling back and in the second half we improved it and didn’t concede a point.

“I think the fact we got a bit more willing to get dirty and make some strong collisions turned it for us. The game of footy’s pretty easy when you run hard and I think the attitude was a bit more willing to rip in. The kicking game was nice and controlled, we got some repeat sets and in the end ran them out of petrol. 

“We always knew the game was going to go the whole 80 minutes so we tried to get away from killing ourselves. Sometimes you can overplay your hand and think you have to score.

“We came out with a few better kicking options and having DJ and Jye helps that being pretty smart halves.

“It’s about building pressure through kicks, not relieving pressure, and seeing if you’re good enough in the back end.”