Broncos seal third grand final berth over injury hit Dragons

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Brisbane Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos have secured their third consecutive grand final spot following their 18-4 victory over a yet again injury hit St George Illawarra Dragons side.

With the Roosters having already locked their grand final spot earlier, the contest became a must win for the Dragons who needed victory to keep their season alive. The Dragons had the better chances early on when Aaliyah Fasavalu-faamausili got over twice only to be denied twice.

The Broncos were the first to get on the board when Julia Robinson got over after some good work from Chelsea Lenarduzzi who spun out of a tackle and got her offload away to Robinson who crossed.

Brisbane were able to cause more issues for the Dragons as they stood in defence waiting to see where Ali Brigginshaw was going to pass the ball but instead the Broncos number 7 went through the line before finding Millie Boyle who scored for the Broncos under the posts.

Last weekend, injuries played havoc with the Dragons side and again the Red ‘V' had to deal with injuries with Kezie Apps forced from the field in the latter stages of the first half with a suspected medial injury that could rule her out of State of Origin.

A comeback was what the Red ‘V' needed if they wanted to get back into the contest and they took the first steps to that when Jess Sergis was able to get over after Keely Davis ran at the defensive line, drawing the defence in before passing out to Sergis. A major injury to Isabelle Kelly hurt the Dragons when Amber Hall was penalised for pulling Kelly's hair and when she slid in behind to make the tackle on Kelly.

The Broncos will have a nervous wait for the charge sheet to come out with Ali Brigginshaw put on report after diving in at the legs of Maddie Studdon whilst she kicked the ball which left Studdon in pain on the ground. At the same time for the Dragons, Jess Sergis was also down with an ankle injury.

Jaime Chapman will be ruing her decision to go for the one handed put down as she was denied a try after losing the ball when diving over after some good work from the Dragons. The Dragons were also denied again when Aaliyah Fasavalu-faamausili was again stopped by Tamika Upton after trying to get over from dummy half.

The Broncos sealed their victory in the dying minutes when Lauren Brown was able to pick up the ball from dummy half and dive over to get the Broncos third try of the afternoon.

The victory for the Broncos seals their third successive appearance in the NRLW grand final with back to back contests against the Roosters headed their way over the next fortnight. Meanwhile, the St George Illawarra Dragons take on the New Zealand Warriors in the earlier game next Saturday.