The Newcastle Knights overcame a 22-4 deficit midway through the first half to close the lid on the Jets' season.
A 16-point lead after 26 minutes wasn't enough for the Jets who are officially out of the running for finals contention.
Man-of-the-match Jaelen Feeney enhanced his first-grade prospects with an inspirational two-try effort, instigating the Knights' 36-unaswered-point explosion.
It was a result that typified the Jets’ season of unfulfilled promise. Newtown showed glimpses of their attacking potential but were overshadowed by inconsistency throughout the season.
Todd Murphy continued his excellent year with a sensational performance. Murphy laid on the Jets’ first three tries and scored one himself to take a commanding lead.
His dangerous short-passing and -kicking game provided tries for Mitch Brown and Gerard McCallum to score in the second and eight minute of the match.
Murphy put the Jets up 16-4 in the 22nd minute with a well-timed short ball for Mitch Brown to score his second try of the day.
Murphy then finished off a fantastic play of football to score a 40-metre try in a seeming declaration they had arrived for a big performance. Pat Politoni raced from dummy-half to find McCallum who offloaded to Murphy to score under the posts for a 22-4 lead with 14 minutes in the half.
However, instead of carrying a commanding lead into the sheds, their hard work was undone before halftime.
After setting up the Knights’ first try, Feeney barged over for their second before Ken Tofilau scored on the final play of the first half for the Knights to trail 22-14 at halftime.
In an ominous start to the second half, Newtown unforgivably failed to field possession from the kick-off to gift Newcastle possession and score on the opening set. Kerrod Holland took on the line to split two defenders and cut the deficit, 22-18.
The Knights seized momentum as Feeney continued his field day with his second try and claim a 24-22 lead with 32 minutes remaining. Feeney found Jacob Sifiti before receiving the pass back on the inside.
Newcastle scored back-to-back tries to take total control of the match with Holland earning his second try as he exploded for the offload to get through the line and swerve 30 metres to score.
With the Knights leading 30-22 with 30 minutes left, Newtown were presented an arduous task with time quickly closing in on their season.
Newcastle extended their lead to 12 points with 25 minutes left when Jayden Rosberg powered his way over the line. Damien Sironen put the result to bed crossing for a 40-22 score line before a late consolation try to the Jets on the last play.
Newcastle Knights 40 (K Holland 2, J Feeney 2, K Tofilau, D Sironen, J Safiti, J Rosbery tries; G Ndaira 3, Holland goals) bt Newtown Jets 26 (M Brown 2, G McCallum, S Sauiluma, T Murphy tries; Murphy 3 goals) at Remondis Stadium.
