How Tarryn Aiken and the heartbreak of a failed season is driving the Roosters to an NRLW premiership
The Roosters were good last year until it mattered in the semi-finals. This year they have the character — and one of the best players in the game — to get them through.
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Sydney Roosters are favourites to win this year’s NRLW title, but then again they were favourites last year too.
And look how that worked out.
In the boilover of the season, the Roosters were stunned 24-10 by a hot Parramatta side on a sunny day at Suncorp Stadium in the 2022 grand final decider.
The sting of a good season wasted burned. It still does.
Ahead of Sunday’s semi-final clash with the Gold Coast, Roosters captain Isabelle Kelly reflects on last year’s loss and why they’re in a better position in 2023.
“It was really hard, we have reflected on that a fair bit and the fact that we won every game and didn’t have any lessons or things to look back on to make us a better team,” Kelly says.
This year, they’ve built character through two losses - one to Canberra in round 2 and another to reigning premiers and fellow finalists Newcastle in round 8.
“That was probably a big blessing in disguise for us, we didn’t play great at all [against the Knights] but we can look back at what we did and everyone steps up because no one wants to go through that pain again.
“Losing the semi finals, it was tough but now I look at it as a blessing.
“We had some younger girls in our squad last year who didn’t have that big game experience but now they know what to expect.”
Roster overhauls
Most clubs underwent roster overhaul of some kind in the off-season, but the Roosters and Titans were two of the best.
It’s a big part of the reason why they’ll meet on Sunday in the semi-final at Allianz Stadium.
The Bondi club stunned the competition when they landed Knights’ premiership-winning captain Millie Boyle, but then followed it up with internationals Amber Hall and Tarryn Aiken from Brisbane as well as Keeley Davis from St George Illawarra.
They also managed to retain stars Kelly and Jess Sergis, and replace retired fullback Sam Bremner with returning gun Corban Baxter.
“It was a pretty tough decision there, but speaking to Strangey and how he wanted to play I thought it was a really good opportunity, and it really excited me,” Aiken says.
“I’m really glad I’ve done it. It was hard to leave all of my good mates, but the girls here are really good as well and I get along well with them.
“I’m really enjoying my footy here and playing under Strangey.”
On the other hand, the Titans underwent a major transformation from last year’s wooden spooners to semi-finalists with shrewd recruitment.
They added Jillaroos Shaylee Bent, Taliah Fuimaono and Jamie Chapman to the squad, as well as Niall Williams from New Zealand Rugby 7s.
It resulted in the Roosters and Titans soaring to the top of the competition in run metres and post contact metres, while the Roosters finished the season with the most points per game (31.6) and most line breaks (7.9 per game).
Terrific Tarryn
It’s been a breakout season for Tarryn Aiken in particular, who has been at the centre of the Roosters’ attack.
The Jillaroos and Queensland half has always been a classy player but this year her game has gone to a new level as one of the top two players in the women’s game.
Since her debut in 2019 for the Broncos, she’s had the most try involvements of any player in the NRLW with 48, including 11 tries, 22 assists and 15 contributions.
The 24-year-old has topped the competition with 12 try assists this season, as well as 18 line break assists to make her one of the favourites for the Dally M Medal.
“It’s been one of my best seasons, but that comes off the back of the team I’m playing with,” she says.
“We have really good forwards and I’m playing off the back of them, and we have probably the best centres in the competition, so playing inside them and having them running off me is really good.
“The way we’re playing is giving me a lot more opportunity to get on the ball a bit more.”
She wasn’t around for the semi-final loss last year (the Broncos missed the finals), but she knows the pain well.
In 2021 the Roosters knocked the Broncos out after they’d won the minor premiership too.
“I was just gutted after that,” she says.
“Most of us have experienced a semi finals loss before so we’ve felt the sting, everyone is pretty hungry to make amends.”
Building character
Last year Kelly says the Roosters didn’t have the chance to build any resilience, but this year is a different story.
They have battled a big injury toll all season, and with a handful of season-ending injuries their depth has been greatly challenged.
It has been so bad in the last few weeks of the nine-round season that they signed their assistant strength and conditioning coach, Millicent Scutt, to a contract, just to have a back-up at dummy half.
“We’ve showed a lot of resilience which is needed at the hard times in this comp and you need resilience for those big games, it’s definitely helped us in the long run,” Kelly says.
“I have a lot of faith in this group that we’ve done the hard work we’ve needed to do to get to the grand final.”
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Originally published as How Tarryn Aiken and the heartbreak of a failed season is driving the Roosters to an NRLW premiership
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