In what has been a remarkable season for the Newcastle Knights NRLW side, they will play in the women’s NRLW grand final after putting the St George Illawarra Dragons to the sword.
This season is a stark contrast to their first run in the competition last season where they failed to win a single game.
Fast forward to this year and the Knights have slowly formed their partnerships, hit their straps and have made the grand final as a result.
There were injury concerns over key fullback Tamika Upton but she put those to bed when she scored the first try of the game.
On the back of the platform laid by forwards Millie Boyle and Caitlan Johnston, Upton was able to hit a nice gap and find the opening try of the game.
Just several minutes later, the Knights went over again through Boyle who powered her way past several defenders to make it look easy.
The frantic pace to the game continued when Teagan Berry was able to get one back for the Dragons.
She batted a pass up from the Knights, regathered and intercepted it and ran the 20m to score.
It was a try and conversion that the Dragons desperately needed to make the score 12-6.
It would have been an ideal score for the Dragons at the break but they let the Knights in to score, a demoralising finish to their half.
It was a simple scoot for Kirra Dibb who just burrowed her way over.
Upton then showed her skills again when she crossed for a second.
The Knights final try to seal the deal was a simple backline movement that was finished off by Kiana Takairangi.
After their win, the Knights will face the Parramatta Eels in the grand final after they upset the Sydney Roosters.
Dragons coach Jamie Soward praised the Knights NRLW outfit on their win and admits that his side may have tried too hard at times to produce something.
I think getting to the semi-finals against a side like Newcastle, at stages there the game was on, we just tried a little bit too hard I think,” Soward said.
There was one player from his side that Knights coach Ron Griffiths had buckets of praise for and that was powerhouse forward and captain Millie Boyle.
“There are probably times where we ask a fair bit of Millie (Boyle), particularly defensively but then she has two carries a set so it was quite possible the bravest performance I’ve seen from a middle front-rower captain,” Griffiths said.
NRL News Player of the Game
3. Millie Boyle (NEW)
2. Tamika Upton (NEW)
1. Emma Tonegato (SGI)