St George Illawarra have been handed a reality check, thrashed 30-4 by Brisbane in their inaugural WNRL match on Sunday.
In front of 18,853 fans at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Broncos fullback Chelsea Baker was the star, scoring two tries and kicking five goals.
Baker scored early on with a diagonal run before Sam Bremner hit back for the Dragons.
But Brisbane, featuring 16 international players, saw their forward pack take over from there on to run out convincing 26-point winners.
Many judges rated the Broncos as pre-tournament favourites for the inaugural competition and looked to be on the money as Brisbane dominated.
It was a historic weekend for women’s rugby league in Australia. The opening round of its first professional competition started on Saturday night when the New Zealand Warriors downed the Sydney Roosters 10-4 at ANZ Stadium.
Both matches were played as double headers alongside the NRL elimination finals between the Warriors and Penrith and St George Illawarra against Brisbane respectively.
