Newcastle's winning streak - and season - has come to an end after the Warriors produced a classy performance on home soil to claim a 40-10 victory in Auckland on Saturday.
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Playing their first home final since 2008, the New Zealand side continued their impressive form this season while the Knights were their own worst enemy in front of 26,083 fans at Mt Smart Stadium
The home team led 16-4 at half-time after stunning Newcastle with three tries in the opening 12 minutes.
Each one of them came on the back of a Newcastle error or infringement.
The Knights, who were missing Daniel Saifiti, Jackson Hastings and Lachlan Fitzgibbon, managed to stop the Warriors from piling on any further points in the first half but they were blown away in the second stanza.
A try just two minutes after the break gave Newcastle some hope, reducing the deficit to six points, but the Warriors scored a further four unanswered tries to run away with the result.
Newcastle have now lost 13 of their past 15 games at Mt Smart.
Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson was on fire in his return from injury and showed no signs of limitation from the calf issue that kept him out of his side's past two games.
They'll now face the Broncos in Brisbane next Saturday night, while the Knights will be licking their wounds ahead of what will be a dreary flight back across the ditch.
Newcastle had won their past 10 consecutive games but they made a horror start to the semi-final with winger Greg Marzhew dropping the ball in the opening set.
It gave the Warriors early attacking field position and they made their visitors pay when Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad crossed virtually untouched on the outside of Knights centre Bradman Best.
![Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scores the opening try in Auckland on Saturday. Picture Getty Images Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scores the opening try in Auckland on Saturday. Picture Getty Images](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/max.mckinney/add7b329-b5de-46b2-be2e-e800d2c15ce3.jpg/r0_0_4129_2752_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A couple of tackles after the restart, Newcastle gave away an offside penalty and Johnson soon rolled a pinpoint kick into the in-goal area to earn a repeat set.
Wayde Egan cut through Newcastle's defence a few plays later and looked to have scored the Warriors' second try, but the hooker was deemed to have been held up.
It mattered little though with prop Addin Fonua-Blake bursting through a gap to score behind the goal-posts in the seventh minute.
It only got worse for the Knights when Dominic Young was barrelled over the sideline by opposing winger Marcelo Montoya in the ensuing set.
The Warriors gained another set of six for a ruck infringement a few tackles later and 30 seconds afterwards Montoya crossed for his side's third try on the left flank, catching Young out badly in defence.
Adam Pompey converted from the sideline to give the home side a 16-0 lead after just 14 minutes.
Newcastle had a couple of attacking sets midway through the first half but they were a little clunky compared to previous weeks and the Warriors appeared to have all the answers.
They finally cracked the defence in the 25th minute when Marzhew finished off a sweep on the left flank, sliding over for his 22nd try of the year.
Trailing 16-4, the Knights were lucky to not fall further behind when Egan again crashed over from dummy-half, but interchange forward Mat Croker somehow held the No.9 up for a second time.
Newcastle needed a bit of luck early in the second stanza and they got it when they were awarded six more tackles at the end of their first set before rookie back-rower Dylan Lucas scored on the left edge soon after.
It was a controversial try with halfback Adam Clune's pass to Lucas appearing forward in video replays.
But the Warriors hit back just three minutes later through Dylan Walker, the utility barging past Kurt Mann to score inside the right upright.
Mann left the field for a head-injury assessment immediately afterwards as the Warriors took a 22-10 advantage with 33 minutes left to play.
The home side kept pinning Newcastle deep in their own territory midway through the second half and just when the Knights looked to be making some headway they made another simple error dropping a ball near halfway.
It again cost them when Warriors centre Rocco Berry escaped multiple defenders and somehow reached out to plant the ball over the try-line.
His 59th-minute effort and the conversion put the Warriors in front 28-10.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak ran in untouched in the 62nd minute to extend the lead again, the Warriors moving to a 34-10 advantage.
Bayley Sironen scored in the 75th minute to heap more misery on the batterred Knights.
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