Harvey Norman Women’s: Steelers bow out in finals

The scoring started early for Newcastle with No.9 Leah Ollerton finding a try out of dummy-half just two minutes in.

Illawarra answered moments later however with a Maddi Studdon bomb bouncing fortuitously into the arms of Maria Paseka who stepped away from several cover defenders and crafting a flick pass to a supporting Tayleah Handock to score.

Ollerton found a second for the Knights out of dummy-half to make it 12-6 a quarter of the way in.

They extended their lead the following set with Ollerton slicing through the middle from her own side of half-way out of dummy-half and handing it off to Grace Kukutai who pushed away from the cover to dive over and make it a double-digit difference.

Saxbii Shaw went over down the right-hand corridor to make it three tries in seven minutes for the Knights before Lucy Spain found a try prior to the break to make it 26-6 in favour of the minor premiers.

Refusing to yield, the Steelers clawed their way back into the contest on the other side of half-time courtesy of a superb Jessica Patea hat-trick.

Her first came 39 minutes in off a Studdon cut-out with the Steelers centre showing some nice poise to muscle her way to the stripe.

Studdon crafted a deft, cross-field kick to Paseka soon after who moved the ball back on the inside to Patea to burrow her way over.

She completed her hat-trick off the back of a Studdon 40/30 with 15 minutes on the clock standing up her opposite to dive over in the southeastern corner and cut the deficit back to 10.

Kukutai found her second just moments later however to stave off any Steelers comeback and secure the victory for her Knights.

Kiara Kostovksi snagged a late four-pointer for Illawarra but it proved in vain with minor premiers Newcastle marching to a second-consecutive Grand Final appearance.