Jessica Sergis’ willingness to put body on line motivates Dragons
FORGET inspirational team talks. St George Illawarra coach Daniel Lacey will be using a few seconds of video footage to prepare his charges for a bruising clash with the Warriors.
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FORGET motivational team talks. St George Illawarra coach Daniel Lacey will be using a few seconds of video footage to prepare his charges for what he expects will be a bruising encounter against the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday.
Lacey will be showing the clip of youngster Jessica Sergis taking the biggest hit of the opening round of the NRL women’s premiership during the Dragons’ 30-4 loss to the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last Sunday.
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As the 20-year-old winger went across to tackle her Broncos opposite Julia Robinson just before half-time, she clashed heads so hard she was knocked unconscious in mid-air.
“She put her body on the line for this team,” Lacey said.
“I want the team to feed off her determination to put herself on the line.”
Sergis has no memory of the front-on collision and the last thing she can remember of the incident is the gasp of a shocked Suncorp Stadium crowd.
The athletic speedster, nicknamed “Winx” because she runs like a racehorse and has a long mane of hair, tried to get back up off the ground on noodle-like legs, but was quickly escorted from the field.
“That game was brutal at times and what the likes of Jess did was incredible,’’ Lacey said.
Sergis happily showed her coach footage of the hit on her mobile phone on their return to Sydney from Brisbane just hours after the game.
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“That clip will be motivation for us,” Lacey said.
“The intensity and dedication she showed was inspirational.
“You never want anyone hurt, of course, but you want them tough.”
It was a shuddering impact. The concussed Sergis had an immediate head injury assessment.
And while she passed her first medical test on Tuesday to get back on the field and has been named in the Dragons team for Saturday, she needs to be cleared later this week.
Robinson’s injuries were more obvious — two devil’s horn-sized bumps on her forehead.
“It was a good one,” Sergis said.
“I heard everyone go ‘ahhh’ before I blacked out mid-air.
“I was a bit wobbly when I got up. I didn’t know what happened. I came off second best.”
Sergis is now sporting a giant bruise under her chin, two corked thighs and assorted aches and pains in the aftermath of her Dragons debut.
But Sergis, a part-time nanny who is popular on social media with her boyfriend, Dragons star Zac Lomax, is thankful she’s not sidelined with greater injuries, such as a broken nose or shattered jaw.
She has no qualms about putting her body back on the line if she’s cleared to play against the big-hitting New Zealand Warriors.
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“Obviously I was shocked, I have never been concussed before,” she said.
“I never thought it would happen to me. But it hasn’t put me off.
“I just love my footy. It just feels so good to be out there. I can’t wait to be back out there. I’m pumped.
“I do like being a bit girly-girly sometimes, for sure, but once I am on the field, I don’t care how I look or what I am doing. I am 100 per cent on footy.’’
Sergis has “every finger and toe crossed” she will be back out with her Dragons teammates on Saturday against a Warriors side that caused the first upset of the new competition by beating pre-event favourites the Roosters, 10-4.
“They are tough,” she said of the Warriors.
“I felt like the Roosters were going to win, like everyone.
“The fact they had all those travel issues with the storm and only landed that morning, then got themselves composed, then went out there and did that, was pretty amazing.
“We do have to put our bodies on the line this weekend against them.
“We know the style of football we want to play.
“Now we have to go out and do it.”
Sergis might not remember much but the sense of awe at the final whistle of the first game of the inaugural women’s competition has stayed with her.
“I didn’t even know the score,” she said.
“But at the end we all shook hands and just looked around and said, ‘Holy crap, this is real’.”
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