The Cobar Roosterettes Ladies League Tag team is straight into the 2017 Barwon Darling Cup grand final after their 12-4 win over the Walgett Dragonettes on Sunday.
The undefeated Roosterettes came up against Walgett in the major semi final on Sunday at Brewarrina.
Coach Rachel Garland is understandably proud of the team’s performance this season and their win on Sunday.
“The girls all dug deep and worked really hard,” Garland said of Sunday’s game.
“The win didn’t come easy, that’s for sure.
“They certainly worked for it. Our defence is what won us the game.”
In her pre-game talk, Garland called upon her players to only concentrate on today’s game.
“Don’t think about any other games previously this year, or compare to previous games against Walgett. Semi final footy is a whole new ball game,” she’d told them.
Playmaker Lisa Travis put first points on the board for the Roosterettes early in the match running 20 metres in from out wide to score under the posts which made for a simple conversion by team captain Zoë Harland.
The Dragonettes replied not long after with a try of their own however the sideline conversion was missed and the Roosterettes held onto a 6-4 narrow lead.
Shortly before half time Walgett looked set to take the lead, however a courageous 80m chase down from Tanya Gilbert thwarted a certain try and the Roosterettes retained their two points advantage going into the half time break.
Travis was again instrumental in scoring the Roosterettes’ second half try.
She drew a couple of defenders and put the competition’s leading try scorer, Brianna Watson, into a gap and Watson raced over to score next to the posts.
It was another easy kick for Harland and the Roosterettes went ahead 12-4.
Harland had a very good day with the boot and her kicks in play helped to give the Roosterettes good field position all game.
Playing at fullback, Harland gave her team plenty of directions throughout the match however a very windy day made it hard at times for her team mates to hear her calls. All of the Roosterettes however worked overtime in defence to keep Walgett from scoring again.
Best on field for the Cobar team were Travis, Gilbert, Harland and Naomi Whitehurst, who was back from injury. Harland and Whitehurst shared the Players’ Player honour.
Their major semi win gives them this weekend off from playing. Garland said she and the team are looking forward to a couple of weeks of good solid training.
“It has been a year of ups and downs with numbers but the girls have still managed to have a great year and smash it out in each game and they certainly deserve their spot in the grand final!” Garland said.
