Brigginshaw warns her best is yet to come for Broncos
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Assistant coach Corey Parker is the driving force behind Ali Brigginshaw's red-hot form but the Broncos captain insists she still has plenty of room for improvement leading into Sunday's grand final against the Dragons.
The Brisbane half will look to lead her team to back-to-back titles in the Holden Women’s Premiership decider at ANZ Stadium having done it all in the game with several State of Origin titles for Queensland and a World Cup win with the Jillaroos in 2017 to her credit.
Despite all the accolades, the 29-year-old playmaker is not content with what she has achieved.
"I want to take the line on and I want to get around my players. Something massive that I want to work on is supporting my players," Brigginshaw said.
"So if I set Annette Brander up I want to make sure I am supporting her on the inside. That is something I don’t think I have done well in previous years and something I want to pick up.
“I am still learning. Corey Parker is teaching me a lot about support play and making sure I have energy around the ball. There are so many young halves coming through and I’d like to think I have a cool head and can provide that on grand final day."
Brigginshaw confident Broncos can go back to back
The Broncos beat the Dragons in round one when they had been written off. While it hurt Brigginshaw to suffer the club’s first loss last week, a 10-8 defeat at the hands of the Warriors, she added it had also lit a fire within the team "to really go out and not give the Dragons a sniff of winning that premiership".
"I didn’t think we would go through to the final with all the expectations on the Dragons. Everyone was talking about them knocking us off early in the first round but once we beat them then it gave us confidence for the rest of the season," Brigginshaw said.
"Against the Warriors, they came out and had a lot of passion and wanted to win it so much more. I think that has really lit a fire in us to go out on grand final day and get that win.
"It was a reality check and something you might need in the lead-up to a grand final."
The talk in the lead-up to the NRLW was about the players Brisbane had lost rather than those they'd gained. That has also added to their motivation.
"It definitely gave us something,” Brigginshaw said.
Match: Broncos v Dragons
Grand Final -
home Team
Broncos
1st Position
away Team
Dragons
2nd Position
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
“To win in round one after we had our trial match in PNG, I just thought that brought us all together and then the girls just bought into what the Broncos are, the values we have in being united and wanting to enjoy the moment.
"Winning in the first year was amazing. This is something that we all just want so much - that feeling of holding the trophy up was something you can’t even explain."
Former Broncos premiership winners Brittany Breayley and Maitua Feterika will pack down for the Dragons on Sunday which only adds to the rivalry.
"We are competitors and we all play the game with spirit and compassion. That is something that in the women’s game we have," Brigginshaw said.
"I go out there and don’t care who I am playing against but after the game we are all mates. When [the former Broncos] left we didn’t lose any friendships there like people had said. We are still mates … but I think the rivalry is good. It always gets you up and ready for a game."
Tickets for the NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final 2019 are now on sale to the general public.
Tickets are available through Ticketek and nrl.com/tickets.
