Following their 20-16 victory over the Cronulla Sharks, the Newcastle Knights thrash the Gold Coast Titans 46-10 to take the top spot on the NRLW ladder

Brisbane has all but confirmed its NRLW finals berth after Chelsea Lenarduzzi’s last-minute try sealed a thrilling 20-16 defeat of ladder-leading Cronulla.

The Broncos’ win came before Newcastle ended Gold Coast’s top-four hopes and reasserted its own heavyweight status with a 46-10 thrashing of the Titans.

Made to defend their line for long periods in Robina, the Broncos rolled up-field on a seven-tackle set and took an unlikely lead when fullback Hayley Maddick found prop Lenarduzzi with a short ball.

The Queensland State of Origin representative barrelled over Sharks lock Brooke Anderson en route to the line to seal Brisbane’s sixth-straight win with 16 seconds to spare in Saturday afternoon’s match.

It would take a big loss to ninth-placed St George Illawarra next week and Parramatta to score similarly decisive wins in their last two matches for Brisbane to miss the top four.

It marks quite the turnaround for Scott Prince’s side, who went winless across the opening two weeks of the season.

Winger Stacey Waaka left the field just before half-time in the only blight on the Broncos’ afternoon, a leg injury looking set to keep the New Zealand rugby sevens Olympic gold medallist out for the remainder of her debut NRLW season.