Central Coast Roosters Win Thrilling Grand Final At Bankwest

The Minor Premiers have become Grand Final winners as the Central Coast Roosters have claimed the NSW Harvey Norman Women's Premiership title and defeated the resilient North Sydney Bears 16-10 at Bankwest Stadium this afternoon. 

It was the team spirit of the Sydney Roosters that lived up to this blockbuster Grand Final against the North Sydney Bears.

“Being Minor Premiers and then sealing off the Grand Final today, is just unreal,” said winger Brydie Parker, who will represent the Roosters NRLW side from next week.

“We had one job to do today and now we’re on to the next job.”

The Roosters started strong, with five-eighth Bobbi Law scoring the opening try in the first ten minutes on the back of a well-timed pass from prop Tayla Predebon.

“I just saw the hole open up and I was just head down, hoping to get to the line,” Bobbi Law said after the match.

The motivation and determination to bring home the trophy was already written over their faces during the warm up, and would continue when they took to the field. 

The Minor Premiers settled into their rhythm early on, leaving the Bears with few opportunities to get over their 30 metre line in the first half.   

Roosters Winger Claire Reed was the star of the first stanza, scoring two tries that led the girls to a 14-4 lead into half time. After the game, coach John Strange said this was a testament to her determined attitude.

The Bears responded after the break with a try by Shontelle Stowers, narrowing the gap to 14-10. For a short time the Bears seemed to have all the momentum, but with a big crowd cheering them on, they held their nerves and pushed through to a victory.

“It’s always a bit of a roller coaster; you have the highs, then it gets a bit tough and you have the lows, but we stuck it out and were there for each other,” said Bobbi Law.

It was veteran hooker Kylie Hilder’s second consecutive Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership win and her experience on the field could not be missed. She kept the team together, offering plenty of wisdom before and during the game. 

After all the uncertainty around COVID-19, then claiming the Minor Premiership two weeks ago, it was destined to be the match of the season for the Roosters. 

“I knew that if we were good enough to get into the Grand Final that that attitude would actually get us over the line, like it has today,”  said head coach John Strange.

Strange’s hard work and effort to help the team through the past couple of months, and to prepare them for the Premiership, certainly payed off this Sunday. 

“There was really good team spirit amongst the girls and the staff was unreal, so everyone involved just had the right attitude.

“Everyone was positive and everyone was working with each other,” said Strange.