The St George Illawarra Dragons have cemented their place in the top 4 of the NRLW, holding on to beat an inconsistent Broncos side 19-18 in golden point at AAMI Park on Saturday.
It wasn't a good start for the Broncos, who lost Lavinia Gould and Jaime Chapman early due to a leg injury and head knock respectively.
Despite those setbacks, they were able to get on the scoreboard first in the 8th minute. They received a penalty and took full advantage, marching up the field and gaining momentum. Before long they were inside the Dragons' 20, and they executed a right-side shift to perfection to score their first through Julia Robinson.
From there, a mistake-riddled arm wrestle would ensue, with both teams combining for 20 errors through the first half alone. Neither were able to capitalise on an opposition mistake until the 31st minute, when Broncos fullback Hayley Maddick's knock on gifted the Dragons good attacking field position.
They would finally get over the line shortly after Kezie Apps was too strong for the defence.
After doing all the hard work defensively, the Broncos would head into the break down by 8-points after the Dragons turned one try into two just before the break. Quincy Dodd threw a dummy that was fallen for by everyone and she then got herself over the line under the posts, making it 12-4 to St George Illawarra.
The Broncos had success all game attacking the left side of the Dragons defence, and turned it into a try in the 46th minute, with Brigginshaw flicking it out to Ciesiolka, who grubbered past the Dragons fullback Pearson to regather and score a great try.
Brisbane had all the momentum and an equalising try seemed imminent, but Chelsea Lenarduzzi collected Keeley Davis high and went to the sin bin, handing the Dragons an opportunity to ice the game.
They did so immediately, with Elsie Albert running as hard as anyone to slam the ball down over the line. The successful conversion meant that the Dragons lead 18-8 with just 13 minutes remaining.
The Broncos were out of gas, and it took an extraordinary individual effort from Jaime Chapman to get them back into it. She broke a tackle and made a clean line break inside her own 30 metre line, before burning the Dragons fullback on her way to the line. The conversion was again unsuccessful, making it 18-12 to the Red V.
It looked as though the Dragons would grind out the win after forcing consecutive dropout, but the third kick went dead and the Broncos were armed with 130 seconds, 7 tackles and a dream. The dream became reality as Ali Brigginshaw spotted a gap and pinned the ears back, scoring under the posts to send the game to extra time.
On the first play, the Dragons knocked on, but a challenge revealed it was actually a strip by the Broncos, giving the Dragons a penalty and putting them in the box seat. Rachel Pearson was cool, calm and collected under pressure, nailing the field goal on her first attempt to make it a 19-18 win for the Dragons.