Knights NRLW skipper Hannah Southwell is dreaming of a home semi-final but coach Ronald Griffiths has warned his side have a few things to improve on first.
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After claiming their fifth win in six games on Sunday, accounting for newcomers Cronulla 22-14 at McDonald Jones Stadium, the Knights have a top-two finish in sight.
Drawing level on 10 competition points with Sydney Roosters but placed second on for-and-against, if they can win two of their remaining three games they should secure hosting rights.
"That would be unreal," Southwell said. "The girls would absolutely love it.
"Newcastle would definitely get around it and be there for us. I hope we do."
The Knights finished second last season but had to play their semi in Brisbane.
They progressed to, and won the grand final, but after attracting record crowds to their past two games - 17,043 last week and 19,519 on Sunday - Southwell said securing a home final would be a motivating factor heading into the remaining rounds.
Griffiths, however, said his side had plenty of work to do before then after a mid-game lapse against the Sharks.
"We've got some work to do internally in making sure that we keep improving each week," Griffiths said.
"A home semi-final in Newcastle, we've seen today a crowd of nearly 20,000, things will continue to snowball and grow here."
Playing before another sold-out NRL fixture, the Knights led for the majority of the match but conceded three tries in the second half to give the Sharks a late chance.
A string of errors almost proved costly for the home side as the visitors gained the momentum heading into the last 10 minutes.
But the Knights hung on to an eight-point lead until full-time in front of a new league-record regular season crowd.
"A tale of two halves," Griffiths said.
"I thought we were extremely good in the first half and didn't follow the process in the second ... so we've got a bit of work to do.
"But ... we kept turning up.
"Even though we gave away some tries ... that I thought were uncharacteristic of our defensive system, we kept turning up for each other, which is important."
The victory kept Newcastle's perfect home record intact, a run which now includes four wins this year and two last season.
Centre Shanice Parker scored a double in consecutive games, crossing in each half.
Newcastle benefited from Sharks centre Annessa Biddle being sent to the sin bin in the eighth minute with prop Tayla Predebon scoring Newcastle's second while the visitors were a player down.
Back-rower Yasmin Clydsdale dived over five minutes before half-time to help the side take a 16-0 lead.
Newcastle next face the fourth-placed Raiders in Canberra on Saturday.
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