 The Roosters went on to play the Gold Coast Chargers who were in their first ever finals campaign with Roosters winning 32–10 to book a Preliminary Final showdown with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.A peculiarity of the finals system saw Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Newcastle Knights face off in what later realised to be a pointless game where both the winner and loser progressed to a Grand Final qualifier the following week.The Roosters had another fight back when they came from 16–6 down to get it back to 16–16, but it was a Sea Eagles field goal that proved the difference to book themselves a third straight Grand Final berth with a 17–16 win.