Broncos women make history

The fist-pumping, finger-wagging Brisbane Broncos won the inaugural WNRL grand final at ANZ Stadium.

Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw and Brittany Breayley hold the NRLW Trophy aloft

The Brisbane Broncos won the inaugural WNRL grand final before their fist-pumping, finger-wagging celebrations in the middle of ANZ Stadium were followed by Dally M medallist Brittany Breayley hauling the massive trophy into the dressing room and declaring, “I’m going to get me some muscles carrying this! Somebody get me a beer!”

The bloody thing weighed a ton. For reasons of equality, the women’s trophy had the exact size and weight of the cumbersome silverware always hauled over the heads of victorious NRL captains. Breayley was wrestling with it down the corridor as much as she was carrying it — as the men do — until the doors flung open to the Broncos shed and she was able to place it on the floor.

“Woo!” was the ear-piercing response from her teammates after a little ripper of a victory. “Woooo!”

The early timeslot of 1.35pm gave the first women’s premiership decider the distinct feeling of an off-Broadway production and robbed it of a big crowd. It would have been a long, long day for anyone to hang around until the end of the men’s presentation at nearly 10pm. And yet this still had the vibe of another landmark occasion for women’s sport in Australia when the Broncos thrashed the Sydney Roosters 34-12 to become the first winners of the NRL Women’s premiership.

The coin toss was held 45 minutes before ANZ Stadium’s colossal gates had even swung open. Kick-off was nearly six hours before the men’s premiership decider between the Roosters and Storm. The crowd was listed as 16,214 but it felt a lot less. Spectators were sparse and scattered. There was the sort of recorded cheering over the loud speakers that was last heard here at a Taylor Swift concert. But more importantly than any of that, the football was good. Not all of it, but most of it, in a fixture that had a deep-and-meaningful overtone in the historical context of the sport.

Broncos coach Paul Dyer said: “I’m relieved the girls got their just desserts. From the moment this team came together as a group, it really had that special feeling. There was a good vibe around the place and around the group. Every single thing we worked on at training with them, they were like sponges. All their attention to detail. To think that we’re here in our first ever women’s grand final and you get to witness the quality of the football you did out there today, it amazes me that it’s taken this long to be where we are.”

The Roosters’ Ruan Sims said: “This is a first ever women’s grand final on what is probably the biggest day on the rugby league calendar. It is an absolute privilege to be here playing in the tricolours.

“Grand finals are about small moments being perfectly executed and unfortunately it didn’t go our way today. I’d love to see the competition expand so everybody can see how much talent the National Rugby League has to offer in the women’s space.”

The Karyn Murphy Medal, named after the former cop, Queensland player and Jillaroo who became part of the NRL Integrity Unit, went to Broncos five-eighth Kimiora Nati, whose hat-trick included the first penalty try in the WNRL

“Kimiora Nati has come over here from New Zealand,” Dyer said. “She’s got a young family who are back there just trying to go about their business, trying to go to school. She’s a mother who’s had to give up a lot to be here.

“What you got to see from here today is just a glimpse of what we’ve seen at training. To be honest, from the moment she stepped on the training field, we knew she was a very special player.”

Roosters coach Adam Hartigan lamented his side had been satisfied with making the grand final and were shell-shocked by the enormity of the occasion and strength of the opposition. “They came out with a plan to bully us in the middle,” Hartigan said. “They got some joy there.”

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg described the grand final as “outstanding” but indicated the four-team competition would remain until there was a guarantee that a larger competition would have enough quality players.

He said people thought a women’s grand final would never come, and yet here it was. A good ‘un. It should have been the curtain-raiser to the NRL grand final rather than the curtain-raiser to the curtain-raiser, which was the State Championships. That had a larger audience but a flatter atmosphere.

Brigginshaw looked at her premiership ring and grinned, “It looks pretty. It’s amazing. and no one can ever take that moment away from us.”