The Sydney Roosters and the North Sydney Bears played out a bizarre Qualifying Final with the Roosters winning 33–21. The Roosters fought back from 14–2 down with 10 minutes to go to get it back to 14–14, then both sides kicked a field goal to send it to extra time at 15–15. 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.