Illawarra's finals prospects now rest on their final outing of the season after suffering a penultimate-round flogging at the hands of Newcastle at Collegians on Saturday.
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After leading 12-4 at halftime, the Steelers produced a stunning second half fade to concede five tries in the first 17 minutes of the second stanza to go down 34-18.
While it was the death knell for their for-and-against ledger, the Steelers fate remains in their own hands, with a win by any margin against the Tigers this coming weekend enough to seal a finals berth.
It will be no mean feat given the Tigers, despite being out of the finals running, put 28-6 beating on Wentworthville on Saturday and will have a free swing on their own patch at Lidcombe Oval.
All the pressure will be on the Steelers, with coach Alicia-Kate Hawke left ruing a slow start to the second half her side couldn't reel in.
"I'm not really sure what happened there," Hawke said.
"The feel was really good all day, the warm up was really good, the vibe in the shed before the game was really good. Even at half time we were really clear on a couple of things we needed to do and the talk was really positive.
"When we started off letting that quick [try] in, I was hoping that would be the wake-up call but, unfortunately, we fell away and it was just like a completely different team.
"There's a lot of pressure now because it's going to be up to us to win when Tigers are getting stronger and stronger in the way that they're playing. They're a side we cannot underestimate.
"They're gonna be coming out really firing, so it's a bit disappointing that we've taken the control out of our hands to some extent but that's footy, we'll just reset and refocus this week.
"We'll definitely be doing a bit of work on our defence and focusing a little bit more on us rather than our opposition, but we'll bounce back."
The home side were certainly the better side in the opening 40, crossing first through Jade Etherden 11 minutes in, but struggled to turn a glut of possession and field position into points.
Teagan Berry was twice grassed close to the line but Knights star fullback Tamika Upton, and was called back on a line-ball forward-pass call when she finally did get across the stripe.
Taliah Fuimaono also fumbled the ball over the try-line, but made good just minutes late when she grabbed her side's second try 90 second out from halftime.
The Knights managed a four-pointer to Jasmin Strange on virtually their lone trip to Steelers territory but welcomed the halftime siren.
Thing turned dramatically when things resumed, with a mix-up between fullback Emma Tonegato and winger Olivia Vale saw them inexplicably let a Jesse Southwell bomb bounce.
The rebound fell in the lap of Knights five-eighth Caitlin Moran for the hit back, with Olivia Higgins strolling through some flimsy Steelers defence in the middle of the park to put Upton over in the very next set.
Upton had her second off an offload from Southwell just five minutes later, with Moran following up with her second soon after. When Southwell got across herself and booted her fifth conversion the visitors were up 34-12 in the blink of an eye.
The Steelers found a flicker of response in a well-worked try to Berry, but they weren't in it from the moment the Knights cross first to open the half.
"That second half was disappointing," Hawke said.
"We started with some really good completion in that first quarter, but our defence was just soft by the end there. We just couldn't hold them out defensively.
"That hasn't been us, even up against some of the teams with bigger packs. We identified some of their strong middles and we shut them down, I think we did well at shutting down their halves in the first half.
"Then the second half, we just let them run amok. We just kind of stood there and watched to see what would happen, [giving up] way too much second phase, not locking the ball down and they were way too quick in the play-the-ball.
"Once a side like that gets momentum, you're just gonna pay the price."
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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.
