Highfields Eagles claim women’s TRL premiership, while Valleys reserves go back-to-back and Diehards win under-19 title
It was a day which will live long in the memory of Toowoomba Rugby League fans as the Highfields Eagles claimed a breakthrough women’s title, Valleys went back-to-back in reserve grade and the Dalby under-19s were crowned 2024 premiers. Hear from the winning captains here.
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The Highfields Eagles women’s side etched their name into the Toowoomba Rugby League history books on Saturday as they thwarted the Gatton Hawks’ hopes of a four-peat with a hard-fought 20-14 grand final win.
Before Saturday Gatton had won every single iteration of the TRL women’s competition but the Eagles were unfazed by the challenge that stared them down as they rose above in the biggest game of the season.
Highfields captain Katelyn Collie was overcome with emotion when the final siren sounded and her side were crowned the queens of Toowoomba Rugby League.
“It’s not really real to be honest, it is incredible, it is amazing,” she said.
The young forward shared her pride in breaking the Gatton dynasty while becoming just the second club to lift the women’s premiership trophy in its four-year history.
“It’s pretty incredible, unreal experience, someone had to break it, we love a good underdog,” Collie said.
“We are just getting started.”
Collie revealed the keys to success for her side throughout the season and reserved special praise for standout players.
“Just working hard and being nice and fast and using our speed on the outside,” she said.
“We have Courto (Courtney Jackson) she’s out from west and then we have Morgs (Morgan Prentice) our fullback - she’s pretty good, she’s lightning speed - and then Fitzy (Jess Fitzgibbons) of course our halfback who leads us around.
“Having some Clydesdales girls with that extra experience from rep and stuff really helps to motivate the other girls who are less skilled or are playing for the first year so it is pretty good.”
After Gatton took the lead early in the second half, Collie revealed the message to the group as they came back from 10 points down to create history.
“Just keep our heads cool and get up nice and hard,” she said.
“We didn’t really start that well but we came out firing in the end which was what we wanted.”
As the siren sounded, the Eagles girls were mobbed by countless fans and members of the Highfields community out on the field in emotional scenes.
“It’s amazing we are a big family out at Highfields and we love it, love seeing the boys get around us,” she said.
Valleys go back-to-back
It wasn’t easy, but the Valleys Roosters claimed back-to-back men’s reserve grade titles with a gutsy 28-20 win over the juggernaut that was the Warwick Cowboys.
Valleys captain Jaren Bender was over the moon to lead his side to glory once again.
“That’s unbelievable, going back-to-back, we worked all year for that and I can’t believe that,” he said.
“We lost probably 80 per cent of our team from last year so we had to regroup and we made it all the way and everyone doubted us but we knew what we had in our team so it was bloody good to get that back-to-back win.
“To do that we have do have a good squad and we have a gun squad.
“They are all my brothers and we all love each other, hopefully we can go three-peat now we’ll aim for that next year.
“To Warwick’s credit they showed up all year and were the team to beat, we knew it and I think they were underdone coming into that game.
“You could tell they were a bit gassed after 10, 15 minutes and our boys were game fit so we knew what we had to do.
“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything but I think they always thought they already had the game won when they beat Wattles two weeks ago, for us to win that is unbelievable.”
The clash was not short of drama, with an astonishing six players sent to the sin bin, including four in the space of less than 10 minutes in the first half.
“That was crazy times I think we had two each team and I think they had a third at one stage but we were definitely blowing there when that sun was out,” Bender said.
“Thank god the night sky come out and it cooled us down so that was good.
“We knew we had to do what we do best - complete well, kick chase and defend well.
“We did that, we did that for the whole 70 minutes, to be able to win that 28-20, we should have won that by more, I couldn’t kick a goal tonight but it is all right we still won, so head up.”
Dalby claim classy under-19 premiership
They were the team to beat and they showed why on grand final day as the Dalby Diehards claimed an impressive 32-18 win over Souths.
Diehards co-captain Harry Cooper was proud of his side’s efforts against an inspired Tigers outfit.
“It’s real good ... we fought to the end, we got a bit worried there but we kept our cool and we pulled through for each other which was good,” he said.
“We just had to keep our cool and make sure we were right for the whole game because we knew we could trust each other.”
With the Diehards taking out the 2023 A-grade title, Cooper praised the Dalby program and the depth in the squad.
“It’s really good they all help us all the older boys in A-grade help us at training so it is real good, we’re real close as a club so it’s good,” he said.
After a solid start, Souths found some momentum during the middle of the clash to tie the scores up at 12-all and Cooper revealed the players who stepped up to lead Dalby to victory.
“Joey Gillett, Joey Sankey and all of our forwards too and Matt Drews, they were all real good,” he said.
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