St George Illawarra will need to produce a dramatic turnaround in the space of six days to be any chance of grand final redemption after being blown away 30-8 by Newcastle on Sunday.
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It continued a concerning trend of second-half wobbles, with the Dragons scoring first and leading 8-4 at the 20-minute mark before conceding 26 unanswered points either side of halftime while enduring a scoreless second half.
With both sides assured a berth in the two versus three final next week, the Knights will take a psychological advantage into the sudden-death showdown in Brisbane having secured second spot with star fullback Tamika Upton watching on from the sideline for the past fortnight.
In what was a finals dry run, Dragons coach Jamie Soward didn't so much shuffle the deck as flip the table with a host of changes to the 17 named on Tuesday.
Skipper Kezie Apps was rested, as was star centre Page McGregor who was replaced by Shontelle Stowers making her first appearance for the club at left centre. Zali Hopkins was given her second start in the halves, with Taliah Fuimaono shifting to right centre as Keele Browne moved to the bench.
Vice-captain Keeley Davis also moved to the interchange allowing Quincy Dodd to start for the first time this season.
Whether it was a case of keeping powder dry ahead of finals remains to be seen, but Soward denied the changes or the performance were a case of playing for another day.
"When we put on the red v jersey we [always] want to win," Soward said.
"It's always hard to prepare for these games knowing the semi-final berth's already there, it's a big trip to Brisbane next week, we're going to play the exact same team.
"It's always a unique situation, we saw it a couple of weeks ago [in the men's] with Souths and the Roosters.
"We had some stuff at training out of our control where we had to make some changes. Fui to right centre was a late change, we got Shonny in there to give her a crack, she's earned that.
"I think we'll settle that side on Tuesday and it'll be a bit more descript I'd say."
It's their second blowout loss to top-two opposition this season, but Soward won't be tearing up the game plan that's taken his side to consecutive finals series.
"I trust my instincts and I trust my game plan and I'm pretty sure the girls do too," Soward said.
"I know what is in those four walls for the Dragons, I know what we're about and so do the girls.We've had a couple of games this year where we've compromised that a little bit and felt the full brunt of that with leaking points.
"I thought our attack was OK, we scored some good tries at the start, but at stages there we just didn't aim up defensively.
"The women's game's come so far... if you make a mistake now the other team punishes you. It's so fast now and defending our errors needed to be better today if we were going to stay in the game.
"We were in it for a huge chunk of the game but we just got punished off the back of those errors. It stings, we're going to have to learn from it, but the beautiful thing about rugby league is you can learn really quickly in a week."
Fuimaono made a fine fist of her positional switch, crossing for the opening try off a neat shift on the right edge just five minutes into the contest.
It put her side in early command until Holli Wheeler was penalised for a late shot on a kicking Jesse Southwell piggy-backed the Knights up the park.
It saw Olivia Higgins cross for the softest of soft tries from dummy-half and level the score at four apiece with Pearson and Southwell struggling off the tee early on.
It put the Knights on top until Shanice Parker spilled a Dragons kick cold 10 metres out from her own line. A razor sharp move from the ensuing scrum saw Berry cross untouched on the left flank.
The breezy conditions pushed Pearson's attempted conversion left, keeping the margin at four 12 minutes before the break.
Again it was a mistake that opened the door for the next, with Berry fumbling the clean-up effort of a Southwell grubber. Kiana Takairangi barged across two rucks later, though Southwell couldn't convert as the scores remained locked.
With halftime looming the Knights landed a big blow through Jessica Gentle courtesy of a lofted dummy-half pass from Southwell, who nailed her first conversion for a telling six-point lead at the break.
They twisted the knife early with Yasmin Clydesdale splitting the Dragons right edge and finding Emmanita Paki in support for the first try of the second stanza.
It was the beginning of a glut of possession that saw the Knight strangle the Dragons out of the game, with Emma Manzelmann crossing from close range to extend the margin out to 16 with Southwell's conversion.
Makenzie Weale landed the final blow with another four-pointer five minutes from time to push the final margin out to 22 points before the final bell.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
