For the first time in NRLW history a team other than Brisbane will raise the trophy after the Roosters pulled off an incredible comeback to down the Broncos 22-16 in the preliminary final.

In the competition's greatest ever upset, the Roosters climbed off the canvas after trailing 16-0 in as many minutes to shock the three-time defending premiers.

They'll face St George Illawarra in the big one in Redcliffe next Sunday, with the Dragons overcoming the Titans 24-18 in the other prelim.

But this was a day for the Tricolours, who only scraped into the finals on for-and-against after the Broncos belted Parramatta last week after winning just two of their five regular season games.

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They've made a hobby of resurrection, but according to coach John Strange this wasn't a miracle – it was destiny.

"(We'll) enjoy the victory against the Broncos, but wake up tomorrow and know the job isn't done. We are going up there to do what we believe we're destined for, we spoke about it early in the piece that we are here to win the competition," Strange said.

"No one gave us a chance and it was about us and those four walls that believed.

"On Tuesday, we spoke quite a bit about a lot of things that have happened in the first five rounds… just so the girls could really understand we are a really good team.

"If things even out or we get the bounce of the ball, I felt like we could win the game for sure. Went into a bit of detail. I did say to the girls you are going to have to fight harder than you have ever thought to win the game.

"I have been involved in a lot of games as a player and coach, and I have never been prouder than I am today."

So much of the conversation around the NRLW is about who would be the first team to dethrone Brisbane. Having a dominant dynasty is a good thing, especially for a league still in development – it creates a mark for every other team to aim at, and it challenges the rest of the teams to lift to the standard.

And when the empire does fall, it guarantees history has been made. It's a big deal when Goliath loses. The expansion of the league to six teams diluted Brisbane just enough and had several other teams take just enough of a step forward for the Queenslanders to be vulnerable.

The Titans beat them two weeks ago, and they were lucky to beat the Dragons the week before that. This is still a seismic upset, an incredible ambush by the Tricolours who only scraped into the finals because Brisbane put a score on Parramatta last week.

But in hindsight, the signs were there. We just weren't looking for them, because through three years of the NRLW if you're a great team they had a name for you – they didn't call you a premiership-winning side, they called you the Brisbane Broncos. It was beat them if you dare and against the odds, the Roosters dared.

The historic match was not without controversy. The crucial score that levelled the game at 16-all was a controversial one to Roosters bench forward Keilee Joseph, who appeared to lose control of the ball short of the line.

Team stats

"They probably got fortunate with a few calls there that got them back into the game," said Broncos coach Kelvin Wright.

"I think it's no try. They looked at it that many times. From what I was looking at I thought it was short of the line. I didn't think it was a try.

"But we can't take away from the Roosters' game. We had the momentum at the start and lost that momentum. But we were still up at that stage. I just feel like we didn't seem to get those 50-50 calls go our way.

"We have probably always had our backs to the wall being Brisbane. We have always used that as motivation. But we couldn't keep up their energy at the end of the game."

But the try stood and the Roosters took the lead through a shock lead via a Jocelyn Kelleher four-pointer, and refused to surrender the advantage.

Brisbane will be back, bigger and better, and with a point to prove after this shock. They will have the fire of a contender and the desperation that comes with chasing revenge. Winners don't know how to lose for very long, and they'll be back for this year's second NRLW season with great and terrible vengeance on their minds.

But that's next season. There's still one game to go, and at the end of everything at Redcliffe next week there's going to be a new team on the throne. The Roosters will once again start outsiders, but nobody will be writing them off anymore.

Dragons vs Titans

The Dragons were not at their best in the win over Gold Coast – they started slow, which has become something of a habit, and their execution in attack suggested a slight nervousness for the young side.

The Titans put it on them early, with the ageless Steph Hancock crashing over for the opening try, but once Quincy Dodd came on at hooker, which allowed Keeley Davis to switch to lock, things opened up for Saints.

Davis moving to the middle is St George Illawarra's secret weapon – her skill as a passer and ability to dig into the defensive line opens things up for the rest of the playmakers.

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She played a major role in the side's first try, a sweeping backline move that ended with Madison Bartlett diving over in the corner, and directly created the second with a delicate grubber for fullback Emma Tonegato.

The Dragons went into halftime up 10-6 and after a try to bullocking centre Jamie Chapman, Davis was at it again. This time she scored herself after regathering another sharp grubber.

Davis has been a quality player for the Dragons since the inception of the NRLW, but this has been her best and most consistent season.

"I love Keeley, she's such a competitor and the way she sees the game at times shows why she's such a class player and she also showshow much growth she still has in her," said Dragons coach Jamie Soward.

"Those two kicks, that's just playing footy and we've tried to strip her game back so she can just play footy. She's such a vital piece for us at 21 years of age, that's why she's vice-captain.

"That allows Rach, who's still young in terms of NRLW, to just come in and be Rach. She's not the teacher's pet like Kezie thinks, but she probably is now."

The Titans fought ably to the end – Jasmine Peters scored in the final minutes before Hancock landed her second in the final minute, but a miracle was not forthcoming.

Jamie Feeney's side played hard but errors and ill-discipline cruelled their chances of springing the upset and the Titans coach was critical of the heavy penalty count inflicted by referee Kasey Badger.

"We hurt ourselves, but we weren't allowed to play footy for long periods of time," Feeney said.

"Things going against us was a big one. Don't get me wrong, there's a couple of decisions we made that hurt us at crucial times, but we also weren't allowed to play footy for quite some time.

"I'm not sure which scoreline hurts me the most, the 24-18 or the 12-4 (penalty count)."

Team stats

There is still improvement in this Dragons side. They are yet to hit top gear as a team but have built well through the season, with Soward pinpointing the Round 2 victory over Parramatta, when the Dragons won 10-0 in a Wollongong quagmire, as the moment he believed he had a premiership-calibre team on his hands.

"Having been in this game as a player, it's so hard to prepare for because you know what is on either side, win or loss," Soward said.

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"The girls prepared as best we could but we were probably a bit frantic early. Next week we can just be ourselves, so I feel like we have another couple of gears.

"I expected to make the finals just because I'm a competitive person. But once we started training I got really excited, especially about our forward pack, I thought we had the best forward pack in the comp.

"Week two of pre-season I expected to make the finals, but (thinking about) the grand final probably started after that win against Parramatta in Wollongong, the way we defended in that game, that really got the hype going."