A 65th-minute Bronte Wilson try proved the difference as the Steelers snuck past the Knights 10-6 to claim the 2024 Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership Grand Final in thrilling fashion.
Match: Knights v Steelers
Grand Final -
home Team
Knights
away Team
Steelers
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Sydney
It proved a grind of an affair between the two sides at Parramatta's CommBank Stadium with neither able to trouble the scorers in the opening stanza.
Interchange forward Shae Muhleisen made her presence felt in the Steelers' opening set of the second half steaming through to swallow a midfield Caitlin Moran bomb which had been allowed to bounce.
Muhleisen outran the cover to dive over and give her side a 4-0 edge.
Both sides held off extended attacking bouts through the opening 50-plus minutes of the contest.
Leah Ollerton looked to have found a response out of dummy-half for the Knights only for some desperate Steelers cover to thwart her attempt.
She would not be denied twice however with the crafty No.9 managing to cross soon after.
Jessica Gentle's conversion gave the Knights a two-point advantage entering the final 10 minutes as it became clear that the Steelers would have to dig deep to come out on top.
Indie Bostock may have made a name for herself this season as a game-changing attacker, but it was her work without the ball that helped dragged the Steelers back into the contest.
The teenager earnt her side favourable field position a little over an hour in diving on a ball which the Knights had absentmindedly left lying in the ruck before linking up with Jessica Patea to throw a Knight into touch as they trucked it out of their own end.
Wilson powered her way over under the sticks off it to put the Steelers back ahead entering the dying stages and seal the Grand Final victory.
It proved a poetic end to 2024 for Wilson who scored a match-sealing try in similar fashion at CommBank Stadium in the Steelers' Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final win over the Knights in April.
Maria Paseka – who made her NRLW debut in Round 5 of this year – was awarded the Player of the Match thanks in large part to her tireless work carting the ball out of her own end.