The Warriors Women have missed out on a spot in the NRLW Grand Final after St George Illawarra beat the Sydney Roosters 24-16 at Leichhardt Oval.
After beating the Broncos on Saturday the Warriors needed the Roosters to topple St George if they were to make the final.
The win saw them finish level with Brisbane and the Warriors on four competition points, but a better for and against helped them qualify for next week's decider against the Broncos.
The first standalone game staged in Australia drew 2,293 fans, with the partisan crowd treated to a show as the Red V clinched their second win on the trot.
Dragons centre Jess Sergis produced one of the finest individual performances in competition history with two tries, try assist and a game-high 191 metres to all but book her spot in a green and gold jersey.
The Jillaroos will be sweating on the fitness of star centre Isabelle Kelly after she was helped from the field at halftime with a leg injury, putting her in doubt for next month's test against New Zealand and Australia's Nines campaign.
Desperate to make up for last week's shutout, the Roosters applied plenty of early pressure, however, they couldn't take advantage.
The Red V had a couple of near misses of their own when Shaylee Bent and Tiana Penitani had their efforts rubbed out due to knock-ons in the lead-up and they were made to pay shortly after when Roosters halfback Melanie Howard burrowed over to open the scoring.
But it didn't take long for the Dragons to respond as Sergis produced a stunning one-on-one strip on Kelly and then sprinted 40 metres to make it 6-all.
The see-sawing tussle took another turn when the Tricolours put it through the hands and were rewarded with a four-pointer in the right corner to debutant Bobbi Law, only for the Dragons to hit straight back through tries to Penitani and Shakiah Tungai to cap off an absorbing first half.
Perfect conditions in Sydney's inner-west meant the points kept coming after the break, with retiring Rooster Ruan Sims crashing over for an emotional try in her farewell game before Sergis helped St George Illawarra reclaim the lead courtesy of an 80-metre intercept try.
Having missed a penalty goal earlier in the half, Maddie Studdon made no mistake from directly in front to push the lead out to eight points with three minutes remaining as the Dragons survived a backline reshuffle and the plucky Roosters to clinch a top-two finish.
AAP.
