The match at Kiama Showground featured numerous mistakes and bruising defence as the Gorillas held on to win, despite spending almost three-quarters of the game a man short after Keiran Rankmore was sent off for an alleged high tackle.

The Gorillas jumped out of the blocks and were rewarded when prop Damien Paulissen strode through weak defence to score in the second minute.

Fullback Chad Lisch converted to give the visitors a 6-0 lead.

That advantage doubled in the 10th minute when captain Aaron Henry forced his way over out wide, and Lisch again converted for a 12-0 lead.

The Knights received a bonus when Gorillas prop Joel Skeates was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul.

Just after he returned, replacement second-rower Rankmore, in his first game back at the club after returning from the Illawarra league, was dismissed by referee Paul Lees.

The Knights lifted and just when they Gorillas looked like they had weathered the storm, Knights fullback Tom Atkins sent centre Corey Grigg crashing over.

Matt Gladman's simple conversion hit the posts and bounced away as the visitors went to half-time ahead 12-4.

The Knights came out after the break breathing fire, and a sharp burst from replacement hooker Marc Laird found five-eighth Dean Bristow in support.

He scored out wide to close the gap to four.

The next 25 minutes turned into a real arm-wrestle as the Knights applied pressure, but Warilla refused to wilt and tackled tenaciously.

At one stage both teams were reduced further when Gorillas hooker Ben Cotter and Knights lock Jake Toohey were sent to the sin-bin after a scuffle.

It wasn't until five minutes before full-time when the Gorillas finally managed to wrap up the game when Skeates sent robust centre Blake Colgan thundering over out wide to wrap up a 16-8 win.

In a terrific team effort, Skeates, Lisch, Cotter, Henry and Mark Walsh were best, while Atkins, Kieran Poole, Luke Sutton and Cameron Whittaker were standouts for the Knights.

Meanwhile, Gerringong Lions' unbeaten record was ended by premiers Nowra-Bomaderry Jets, who scored a convincing 26-12 win at Bomaderry.

The Jets led 16-0 at half-time, and had to hold out a determined Lions at stages during the second half, before moving into third spot on the competition table.

In the other weekend games, hat-tricks to both Kurt and Jai Field spearheaded Shellharbour City Sharks to a 56-12 win over local rivals Albion Park-Oak Flats, Berry Magpies finished too strongly for an injury-depleted Jamberoo Superoos 40-26, and Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs had far too much strikepower for Port Kembla, winning 46-22.