The silky attacking skills of Kalyn Ponga, the brute power of Bradman Best and Mitch Barnett, the steady hand and control of Mitchell Pearce and some defensive desperation at the death when it counted with the game on the line.
Newcastle's heart-pounding two point win over South Sydney had a mix of just about everything on Saturday night at Bankwest Stadium.
For 67 minutes, the Knights were in cruise control as Ponga and Best found their groove in attack after a quiet few weeks to spearhead their side to a 20-0 lead.
But taking their foot off the peddle very nearly brought about the side's undoing as the bumbling Bunnies, their own worst enemies with errors for much of the game, became energised down the stretch with a Damien Cook-led try onslaught almost resulting in them stealing the competition points.
"It was a bit of a strange finish there but I think last year, we probably don't win that game so in the end, it was a good result," Barnett said.
"Two points are two points, no matter how you get them and we can take some positives out of the first 60 minutes and the way we repelled them there right at the end."
Knights coach Adam O'Brien admitted to plenty of nerves in the coaches box as Souths charged home.
"The heart stopped a heap of times in the second half," O'Brien said.
"I thought for 60 minutes, we played really controlled with the footy and without it - I thought we defended really strongly. But then we just turned some possession over on play one and then the rot started.
"They are a quality team and I guess when that scoreboard pressure is not there, they are going to come at you hard and they did that."
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Backrower Aidan Guerra, whose parents flew down from Townsville to help him celebrate his 200th NRL appearance, watched the late carnage from the bench after playing the opening 56 minutes before being replaced.
"I was praying we'd hang on there I can tell you,"he said.
There was no sign in the first half of what was to come as the Knights built up a 14-0 advantage at the break with tries to Enari Tuala, Kurt Mann and Ponga.
Under-fire for his form over recent weeks, Ponga exploded on the right edge to burn Souths five-eighth Cody Walker before beating fullback Alex Johnston on his outside to cross for a brilliant individual try.
When he engineered a goal-line restart from Souths 10 minutes into the second half with a perfect kick before providing another for Best to run onto and score minutes later, the contest looked over.
But while his attacking game returned, Ponga had an off night with boot, landing just two from five goal attempts, a factor that ultimately kept Souths in it.
The Rabbitohs were given a sniff 13 minutes from fulltime when prop Mark Nichols brushed past Lachlan Fitzgibbon's attempted tackle to score from close range and within a minute, they were in again after Cook crossed when Sione Mata'utia slipped over in the defensive line.
By the time Cook scored again with seven minutes remaining to edge his side to within two, the Knights' grip on the game had sudden evaporated.
But despite several anxious moments in the final minutes, they held out with Ponga on the spot twice to clean up two Souths attacking kicks that were headed for the in-goal.
The win saw the Knights climb back into the top four and they have the chance to consolidate with four of their next five games at home.
"We are in a good position - the players have done a really good job," O'Brien said.
"It's been tough and I haven't given them an excuse because I've refused to talk about it.
"But the travel down here in that first eight weeks and throw in a trip for a 3 o'clock game in Townsville, they have done a really good job to get us into fourth spot whether the attack's humming or not."
