The Illawarra Steelers' title defence came to an end in The Oaks on Saturday afternoon falling to the Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy 30-14 in their Preliminary Final showdown.
Match: Steelers v Indigenous Academy
Finals Week 3 -
home Team
Steelers
away Team
Indigenous Academy
Venue: Dudley Chesham Sports Ground, The Oaks
The Steelers got off to a brilliant start with Tahlia O'Brien putting the ball on platter for a chasing Charlotte Campbell who charged through to reel it in and snag the first points of the contest 10 minutes in.
The Roosters managed a response moments later through five-eighth Georgie Barrett who took off down a short left side to muscle her way over against a retreating Steelers defensive line.
Both sides went close on numerous occasions to jumping out in front in the first stanza, but several desperate defensive displays came up trumps.
Mahlie Cashin found the Roosters' second early in the second half out of dummy half to give them their first lead of the encounter.
The seesawing nature of the affair persisted with Siu Richter producing a determined, individual effort to answer for Illawarra soon after and bring them back within two.
The next try of the contest belonged to the Tricolours with Jayda Durham taking in a nice Tyra Ekepati pass to dive over in the right corner and make it 14-8.
Illawarra would not yield however with Bronte Wilson requiring multiple defenders to drag her down shy of the chalk only for Tori Shipton to burrow her way out of dummy half off the back of it to tie things up at 14-apiece.
Ekepati found herself in the game again moments later surging into space behind the ruck from inside her own half and motoring away to put her side back on top entering the home stretch.
The Roosters went back-to-back the following set with Lacey Cross producing a superb, individual effort of her own from 70 metres out to give her side a double-digit buffer.
Cashin found a second out of dummy half for the Tricolours in the final stages to seal a strong Roosters victory and punch their ticket to the Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final.
Tarsha Gale Cup Preliminary Final Highlights: Steelers v Roosters
It wasn't to be for the defending premier Steelers who were valiant in defeat but were unable to handle the Roosters' stars throughout the backend of the encounter.
A trio of Courtney Crawford's standouts – Wilson, Trinity Tauaneai, and Seriah Palepale – are set to begin preseason training with the club's NRLW squad next month with the former two members of the Top 24 squad and the latter moving onto a development deal.
