Kangaroos dynasty is born after claiming third FNQRLW flag in four years
The Kangaroos have claimed back-to-back premierships, making it three flags in four years as they become the benchmark of the FNQRL women’s competition. Check out what premiership winning skipper Genavie Tabuai said about it >>>
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The Kangaroos have claimed back-to-back premierships in the Far North Queensland Rugby League Women’s competition after a dominant display against the Atherton Roosters.
On a wet and windy day at Barlow Park, the Kangaroos flew out of the blocks and showed why they were the best team in the competition with a 32-6 victory on Saturday evening.
Roos captain Genavie Tabuai was named player of the match after a strong performance leading her side to the clubs third female premiership in four years.
Tabuai said the girls had fire in their bellies and payback on their minds.
“Leading up to running out I basically said to the girls ‘pressure only comes if you are not prepared’,” Tabuai said.
“These types of games, grand final games, you gotta be prepared, mentally.
“We went into that mindset, we had a nice dinner together on the Friday night because we couldn’t do captains run because of the rain.
“I just sort of said to the girls that ‘the Atherton Roosters took away our first spot into the grand final, I kid you not they are going to be more nervous than us’.
“I kept saying to them that we need to be discipline (sic) in everything we do, work together for one another and take away their game plan and stick to ours.
“And we definitely did that.”
It is the second time in two years Tabuai has been crowned player of the grand final after a dominant display in both the 2023 and 2024 grand finals.
“I was not expecting it, I am the type of person who just wants to go out and play footy,” Tabuai said.
“As humble as I am, its like an impostor syndrome, you don’t clap for yourself.
“I was really taken away to be a back-to-back premiership winner and then back-to-back grand final player.
“It was pretty special and I was pretty overwhelmed and I think that was why I dropped a couple of ‘F’ bombs in my post game speech.
“I was so overwhelmed but I just couldn’t cry, which has never happened to me, I could feel my heart pounding but I just couldn’t cry and I don’t know why.”
The Roos opened the scoring inside the first two minutes thanks to a well timed off load by Hagiga Mosby to Kaiyla Ward and from there the Kangaroos just took complete control.
“I said to the girls as well that we are going in no mercy, they took away that first spot in the grand final, so no mercy in the grand final,” Tabuai
“I think that really showed as well, from kick off I could see it, being a centre and on the outside I could see the determination from the girls.
“They had the fire in their belly burning with purpose throughout the whole game.
“I was so proud, I like being in the mix of it all and last year I played lock and was in the mix of it all.
“But this year, playing centre, I was on the outside and I could see a lot from the outside and I felt playing centre I felt like I was able to give a lot of constructive feedback on what we could improve on.”
The Kangaroos have now played the four grand finals for the FNQRL women’s competition, only losing the Southern Suburbs in 2022.
Tabuai, who was a member of the 2022 Roos side said she will continue to help grow the game in Far North Queensland.
“Its definitely has improved and I feel like you have to be patient with those types of things because they aren’t going to happen overnight,” Tabuai said.
“Change isn’t going to happen with a wand or a click of a finger, so you have just got to be patient and grateful for the little wins and the little steps forward.
“I think within the last fours, we are moving slowly within the comp and I have seen it progress, being a player.
“This year there was a lot of investment within the women’s space the way the comp was structured and developed.
“I have seen it come a long way within the four years and will see it continue to grow in the years to come but it won’t just happen overnight.”
Roosters, Kangaroos lock horns in FNQRL women’s grand final
It all comes down to the first Saturday in August for two clubs in the Far North Queensland women's rugby league.
Grand final day, a day like no other as rivals Kangaroos and Atherton Roosters will line up in the decider to find out who will be crowned champion of 2024.
The two sides met only two weeks ago, with the Roosters causing the big upset over the then undefeated Kangaroos to be the first team into the grand final.
Roosters utility Eden Grace said there is always plenty of hype around grand final.
“Nothing really feels any different, just going into another game of football,” Grace said.
“Obviously it is a better outcome or worse depending, but I believe we can get it done.
“We just stuck together (in the semi final win), we had a mindset, everyone was happy, none of us dropped our heads, we stuck to our plan and we just focused on our game.
“Our line defence is amazing, our forwards are hard working, our wingers with there kick chase attack.”
The Roosters broke a four year hoodoo in the semi final win over the Kangaroos to be the first team into the grand final.
Grace said they are expecting a massive response from the powerful club.
“Their forwards are really strong but I do think our girls are strong enough to hold them back,” Grace said.
“We showed that two weeks ago and I think we can do it again.
“IT would be amazing, it would be the first time the Roosters women would ever be able to do that (win the premiership).
“And to go back to prove everyone on the Tablelands that we are worthy of it would be amazing.”
On the flip side, the Kangaroos have done it the hard way to get into the grand final.
After the loss in the semi final, the Roos found themselves down at half time in the preliminary final against Ivanhoe Maidens before a surging second half come back.
Roos captain Genavie Tabuai said they are definitely more prepared now.
“We are all pretty excited, we are humbled and grateful to be where we are today,” Tabuai said.
“We have had a pretty tough season but we have worked extremely hard to be where we want to be.
“Grand final has approached really fast and it has been a great season this year.
“The semi final just wasn’t a good game for us, everyone has those games and the semis just had to be that one for us.
“We have taken a lot of lessons learnt from that and worked on our improvements.
“Myself and the girls will use the fuel to fire our motivation.”
It will be an exciting day for FNQ rugby league with the under 13 girls grand final kicking off at 10:30am at Barlow Park.
It will be followed by the under 15s and 17s before the Northern Pride at 3pm before the senior women’s grand final at 4:45pm in front of what is expected to be a massive crowd.
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