A spirited performance from the North Coast Bulldogs earned them a 32-4 win over Northern Tigers in the Westpac Lisa Fiaola Cup (Regional) Grand Final at Canberra’s GIO Stadium today, which became the district’s first NSWRL Regional Representatives premiership win.
The Tigers were well in the fight for this Under 17s girls trophy trailing only 8-0 at half-time but three quick Bulldogs tries in early in the second half opened the floodgates.
The Bulldogs ended up scoring six second-half tries to secure the silverware safely, with the Tigers not posting any points until the final 60th minute.
Bulldogs coach Lauren Fearnley knew how special the win meant to the area since Academy teams had been unsuccessful in two other Regional Reps grand finals.
“It’s really special for women to be able to play Rugby League so while trophies may come and go, these girls are now part of history,” Fearnley said.
“And that will inspire the next generation of girls coming through.”
Fullback Milla Swain (pictured above, NRL Photos) had two try assists in the opening half and landed two conversions in the second as well as being central in most attacking moves. She was presented with the Player of the Match award.
Second rower Poppi Flanders had a hand in two tries and scored one of her own, while outside backs Keira Donovan and Arliah Morris collected doubles.
“They’ve been two stand-outs for us all year (Swain, Flanders) but our forward pack often goes unnoticed,” Fearnley said.
“They did a lot of heavy work for us today making lots of metres in wet conditions.”
The Bulldogs scored the only points in the first half for an 8-0 lead at the break.
“It was part of our plan to make sure we had the lead at half-time and they just showed really good attitude in the second,” Fearnley said.
“They executed our game plan and did everything we’d spoken about. It just all seemed to work for us because they do their jobs really well.”
The weather made it a grind early but after two good runs by forwards Lily Moseley and Shaylah Thompson, the Bulldogs spread the ball to the left. Swain then cut out two players to find her winger Morris.
The second Bulldogs try was a ‘coach-killer’ coming with 28 seconds left on the clock before the half-time hooter.
The Bulldogs had been pummelling the Tigers line with Swain held up near the posts and a Sarah Harris grubber kick going dead in-goal.
Finally the ball swung right and Swain this time put her right-side winger Belle Cockeram over in the corner. Moseley missed both sideline conversions in the trying conditions.
The Tigers were still in the fight but missed a couple of opportunities on the Bulldogs line and then had second rower Ella Vidler placed on report for a high tackle.
In the second half, the Bulldogs inflated the scoreboard to 24-0 with tries to No.11 Flanders after Tigers spilled the ball inside their own 10 metes; then bench forward Tilly Cooper capitalised off a big 40-metre run from Donovan; before Donavan then scored herself three minutes later.
Swain had taken over the goal-kicking and landed two from three.
Donovan collected her double, when she supported Flanders right to the line to receive a sneaky short pass (28-0).
Morris scored her own double with the Bulldogs seventh and final try in the 58th minute (32-0).
The Northern Tigers did have the final say with just seconds on the clock when centre Mia Cloake crossed in the south-west corner.
North Coast Bulldogs 32 (Keira Donovan 2, Arliah Morris 2, Belle Cockeram, Poppi Flanders, Tilly Cooper tries; Swain 2 goals) Northern Tigers 4 (Mia Cloake try).
