If anyone needed more proof Cronulla are one of the dominant forces in women’s rugby league, the Sharks have progressed through to the Tarsha Gale Cup grand final after downing St George.
The undefeated Sharks, who have won all 10 of their matches this season, will meet Newcastle in the decider at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday after seeing off the Dragons 44-30 in their preliminary final.
Faith Nathan took her incredible season tally to 22 tries with another five four pointers, while captain Quincy Dodd scored 16 points which included a try. Madison Higgins-Ashby and Sariah Paki scored Cronulla’s other tries.
Sharks coach Colin Dodd said his side would learn from their preliminary finals exit last season.
“All the work has really been done by the girls this year. I know last year was a bit disappointing going out against Canterbury. But it was immense to come back this year and go one step further,” he said.
“The message [against the Dragons] was every quarter we need to win. The third quarter the score was pretty close. So as long as we won the third quarter into the fourth we should have been alright to win the game.
“It’s great to see Faith score her tries. She’s that fast, she’s actually only played five of the eight games throughout the season which could have seen her score up to 30 tries [if she’d played more games]. It’s great to have her part of the side.
“We’ve taken each game each week as it is. Next week is a new game again so… we’ll go in with a new approach and hopefully get the points. We’ve shown throughout the season we’ve beat [Newcastle]. With the girl’s belief I think we’ll be able to do it again, I’m looking forward to next week and so are the girls.”
The competition, in only its second season, is an under-18s tournament played in a nines format.
Dugan out
Cronulla’s injury curse has struck again with Josh Dugan ruled out for between four to six weeks with a broken foot.
Dugan underwent scans on Monday afternoon after suffering the injury in the final stages of the win over the Titans where he limped from the field.
Already without forwards Paul Gallen, Wade Graham and Luke Lewis through injury, Dugan is now set for a longer stint on the sidelines having missed two weeks with a groin strain.
Prior’s effort
Matt Prior went above and beyond just to make it onto the field for Cronulla against the Titans.
The prop had been in hospital on a drip with a blood infection in his arm from Wednesday.
Prior arrived on the Gold Coast on Friday night and put in a strong performance before leaving the ground half an hour after full-time to join his partner, Rebecca, who was due to give birth to their first child.
