The Newcastle Knights will remain in the top-eight at the completion of the round after recording a nail-biting 17-16 upset victory over premiership favourites the Melbourne Storm at an emotion-charged Energy Australia Stadium on Saturday night.
It was a special evening for footy fans of the Hunter with injured Newcastle skipper Danny Buderus officially farewelled by almost 20,000 spectators in an emotional pre-match tribute which provided a perfect entree to the brilliant spectacle that was to follow.
The home side began full of enthusiasm in both attack and defence to take a shock 10-6 lead into the break before the premiers struck back just after half-time with an unconverted try to level the scores.
But despite making the odd mistake, the Knights continued to rattle the Storm with their up-tempo style and it paid dividends with a 62nd minute try to prop Jesse Royal and field goal to half-back Scott Dureau four minutes later to open up a seven-point lead.
The Storm scored late but it wasn't enough, leaving the competition leaders in danger of surrendering top spot if Manly happen to defeat the Gold Coast by 11 points or more on Monday night.
The Knights will retain eighth position regardless of other results this weekend, but face the daunting task of an away game against the Broncos next Friday night in a final round clash that could ultimately determine their finals' fate.
After an emotional pre-game which saw the England-bound Buderus give a speech and perform a lap of honour, the Knights clicked into gear almost immediately helped along by spilt ball by Storm full-back Billy Slater from the kick-off.
From the ensuing set, former Storm prop Ben Cross offloaded in traffic for stand-in Newcastle hooker Matt Hilder to pick up on the bounce for a try under the posts.
Full-back Kurt Gidley's close-range conversion gave the Knights a 6-0 lead after just two minutes.
The Knights dazzled the big home crowd with some enterprising attack in the opening quarter of the match, but it proved to be their downfall in the 24th minute when Storm flyer Greg Inglis swooped on a stray Dureau pass to race 80m for a try under the sticks.
Cameron Smith slotted the simple conversion to have the Storm trailing by two points.
When Dureau was felled by Slater in pursuit of his own chip-kick, Gidley was presented with a simple penalty goal attempt from in front to push the Knights out to the 10-6 lead they would take to the break.
But it took the reigning premier just three minutes into the second-half to respond to coach Craig Bellamy's harsh half-time words when a Cooper Cronk corner-kick was taken brilliantly above the pack by aerial specialist Israel Folau for an unconverted try, leveling the scores up at 10-all.
Unforced errors crept into the next period of the game before the Knights were handed perfect field position for their second try when Storm back-rower Jeremy Smith was penalised for taking out Gidley after a kick.
The Knights were over seconds later when Royal powered over off a superb Hilder face-ball from dummy-half.
Gidley's conversion put the Knights in front 16-10 after 62 minutes.
Dureau then slotted a surprise 66th minute field goal that would ultimately prove the difference to give the hosts some breathing space at 17-10 in front.
The Knights appeared headed to a comfortable victory until Storm second-rower Sika