The Sydney Roosters have won their first NRLW title defeating the St George Illawarra Dragons 16-4 in an entertaining grand final before 7855 fans at Moreton Daily Stadium.
It was a nightmare start for the Roosters with Yasmine Meakes losing the ball in the opening set of the game. From the ensuing scrum, St George Illawarra sent the ball wide and Dally M player of the year Emma Tonegato linked up with Maddison Bartlett to score the opening try of the game and break the record for most tries scored by a woman in the NRLW's short history. However, that would be the only time the Dragons found the stripe in a game that was dominated by defence.
The Roosters would go close with Brydie Parker stepping on the sideline. However, her grand final ended tragically as her knee gave out. The bunker found a high shot from Dragons 5/8 Taliah Fuimaono and she was placed in the sin bin by referee Belinda Sharpe. The Roosters couldn't convert the extra player advantage and failed to capitalise with St George's defence being the stand out feature.
St George though they had a second on the stroke of the break as Keeley Davis got to the ball first and grounded the ball first, the Bunker however found a little knock-on as the Roosters breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Dragons held a narrow 4-0 lead at half-time.
The Roosters had the better of the action in the second 35 minutes frustrating the Dragons with strong defence. Yasmin Meakes made a half-break before the tackle from Rachael Pearson saves the day, later in the set, however, St George cracked when Jocelyn Kelleher took a risk down the blindside and Yasmin Meakes charged onto the ball and the tri-colours had their first of the afternoon, but just like the men's side, they couldn't buy a conversion.
Ten minutes later, a great set play saw Corban Baxter flicks it out the back and was expertly picked up from Zahara Temara who linked up with Isabelle Kelly who raced away to score and with the conversion from Temara, the tri-colours held a 6 point lead. Sarah Togatuki sealed the game with a strong run-up field, off the ensuing tackle, Olivia Higgins shrugs off some St George defenders to score the game-sealing try and another conversion from Temara gave them the final margin of 12 points.
The Roosters win their inaugural NRLW premiership, which is a remarkable achievement considering they limped into the finals on for and against, but showed who they really were when the big moments counted in the finals. Sarah Togatuki was awarded the Karryn Murphy Medal for being the best player on the ground.