Palmerston Raiders showed their forward power to beat Northern Sharks in the women’s preliminary final

Forward power saw the women of Palmerston Raiders force their way into the 2021 NRL NT women’s grand final with a 30-4 win over Northern Sharks in the preliminary final.

Shanoah Leedie fends off Sylvia Watson Caprou in the NRL NT women's preliminary between Northern Sharks v Palmerston Raiders at Territory Rugby League Stadium. Picture: Glenn Campbell

FORWARD power saw the women of Palmerston Raiders force their way into the 2021 NRL NT women’s grand final with a 30-4 win over Northern Sharks in the preliminary final.

Palmerston were on the front foot right away forcing a scrum from kick-off which gave Ciara Aigea the space and opportunity to crash over the line in the following phase.

The Raiders continued to pile on the pressure using their big forwards to power up the field and put Sharks on the back foot.

Sharks withstood that pressure and put in runs of their own when they managed to get hands on the ball with Davida Norris scoring their first try on the right wing.

MORE NT SPORT STORIES

Palmerston Raiders focused on fierce rivals Nightcliff Dragons in the NRL NT preliminary final

Darwin Sistaz sent a statement to the rest of the league after smashing Northern Sharks in the NRL NT Women’s premiership major semi-final

The NT News looks at the talking points from the semi-finals of the 2021 NRL NT season

But it was Raiders back on top at the stroke of half time as Aigea put in another bulldozing run to put her side on top at the break.

Aigea made it a hat-trick of tries on the opposite end of half time with her side busting their way up the field before letting her loose on the Sharks defence.

The Sharks women didn’t let their heads drop at either end with captain Deanna Peckham providing her side with direction each time they got hands on the ball.

The day however belonged to Palmerston with Mele Tapuala scoring a try before Aigea put in another bulldozing run to seal the deal.

Palmerston’s Christabel Aigea Faatoafe was proud of the result praising her forwards for the work they did across the park.

“It’s everything to get into the grand final, we’ve worked so hard since pre-season,” Aigea Faatoafe said.

“Things like getting this win mean so much to us after all the effort we’ve put in and now we’re ready for the big one.

“Our forwards were really strong. If we stick to our game and stay strong in the middle we’ve got it. Our backs know they’ve got work to do when we get the ball to them but our middle wins us games.

“Without Ciara and her bulldozer self we wouldn’t have got the score we did. She stood out and she works hard each week to get us there.

“For next week we need our defence. Defence will win the game by miles and if we shut them down defensively they won’t get past us.”

Palmerston Raiders will now face reigning premiers Darwin Sistaz in the women’s grand final in a repeat of the 2020 final.