Talented teen‘s hat-trick seals historic grand final win
Young gun halfback Aerielle Hobbler scored a hat-trick of tries to lead Kangaroos to a convincing grand final victory over Ivanhoe Maidens on Saturday.
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Halfback Aerielle Hobbler scored a hat-trick of tries to lead Kangaroos to a convincing grand final victory over Ivanhoe Maidens.
Kangaroos proved too good as they secured the premiership with a 46-8 win in the first Cairns District Rugby League women’s decider since 2011, held at Barlow Park on Saturday afternoon.
Hobbler scored more than half of Kangaroos’ total points on the day, running in three tries and kicking seven goals.
Kangaroos coach and former NRL player David Westley said the 17-year-old’s willingness to take the game on in the biggest match of the season was outstanding.
“That’s the best I’ve seen her play,” he said.
“She’s a young talent, has a football head, she’s very calm and tough.
“Some of the hits she did on the day, her contact was really good. And then just holding the ball in two hands and having runners around created opportunities for herself.”
Westley said Hobbler, whose mum and sister are also in the team, needed a QRL exemption when she was brought in as a 16-year-old.
“Our original halfback Tessa (Hart) got injured so I brought Aerielle in and just got her head around a simple game plan, just giving her the confidence to start calling the plays and directing the girls around,” he said.
“After a few games she got that confidence, and that (grand final) was a culmination of all the hard work she’s put in.”
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Westley said the team got better as the game wore on.
“I think the nerves got to them and they just tried a bit too hard with pushing passes and offloads,” he said.
“They weren’t really playing with each other, more as individuals, so we had a chat at halftime and brought it back to how we got there in the first place, and they played really well in the second half.”
Originally published as Talented teen‘s hat-trick seals historic grand final win
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