Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues half Rachael Pearson channelled her coach and True Blue Jamie Soward with a pitch-perfect field goal to snatch a 19-18 win for the St George Illawarra Dragons against the Brisbane Broncos last week.
Soward was an expert at picking the right time and place to shoot a one-pointer. He kicked 26 in his NRL career – five in 2010 when the St George Illawarra Dragons won the premiership.
Little wonder Pearson has the perfect brains-trust to call on, when she practises.
“It was a good feeling – it came off the boot pretty nicely,” Pearson told nswrl.com.au as she prepares for the fifth and final NRLW round against the Newcastle Knights on Sunday.
“He (Soward) sort of gives us the blue-print of how to set up, where to set up for a field goal. We do that set once or twice at each Captain’s Run so it’s familiar without being too heavily focused on.”
It might be a skill that will be needed when the NRLW heads to Semi-finals at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday 25 September.
“It’s kind of a nice feeling that the team looks to you to win the game I guess, in one sense,” Pearson said, adding she willingly shouldered that expectation.
“They back me to kick the field goal and I look to players like Kezie (Apps) or Elsie (Albert) for that run up the middle along with Keeley’s (Davis) quick play-the-ball so I can quickly send it over and in-between – that’s all you want.”
The Dragons, currently in third spot, are through to the finals and on course to meet the Knights (second place) in Brisbane for a second consecutive week.
“Newcastle is good at what they do, and they know their jobs,” Pearson said.
“It’ll be up to us to slow them down and disrupt their flow a bit.”
Pearson, 29, is as ready for that physical challenge as she was making her Origin debut against a big Maroons pack on 24 June at Canberra’s GIO Stadium.
“The body is feeling pretty good considering how much has been on the calendar this year,” she said.
“There’s a really good feeling among the Dragons team right now.
“Coming off a win obviously helps but to beat a quality side like the Broncos – there’s players here who had never done that in five seasons until last weekend… players like Kezie, Keeley and Holli Wheeler.”
The entire Sky Blues team – with the exception of Hannah Southwell (knee) – will be in action on Sunday in the NRLW triple-header at Gosford’s Central Coast Stadium.
