Diehards and Bears battle for BHP Premiership supremacy

The Diehards and the Bears have clashed once this year, back in Round 7, and it was a 24-0 victory to Valleys – but that result won’t mean too much on Sunday.

Valleys claimed their spot in the grand final with a 28-10 win against West Brisbane Panthers in a game that was built on great defence and momentum created by their forwards.

The minor premiers took their chances when they presented themselves, with 39 tackle breaks and five line breaks produced in their win.

The Diehards were desperate defending their line and it showed. When they had finished producing game saving tackles, they went down the other end and added two tries to ice the game and a grand final spot.

Destiny Brill did plenty of defence for Valleys with the lock producing 25 tackles in her 64 minutes played.

Named recently in the Queensland Under 19 representative squad, Brill has worked her way through 115 tackles this season in five games.

In attack, Harvey Norman Queensland Maroons player Shenae Ciesiolka made 124 metres from her 14 returns, breaking six tackle which went a long way to breaking the hearts of the Panthers.

Speaking after the match, Ciosiolka was excited to be taking part in the decider.

“It would just be awesome, I am just very humbled and really grateful for the opportunity I have been given to play rugby league this year, so it will be awesome (to go on and win),” Ciosiolka said.

No strangers to final football, the Bears defied football logic and won a final with 46 per cent of the ball in their game against the North Queensland Gold Stars.

The competition newcomers took it right to the star-studded Bears and made them fight all the way to the end.

The Bears were called on to make 240 tackles in a huge defensive display, and Burleigh were able to keep the Stars try-less after the 18th minute.

It was their hooker Brittany Breayley-Nati who knocked at the door until it opened and stormed her way over for two tries to spark the winning comeback.

The Bears hooker has three tries from six games this year, but nothing can be more important than two tries in a final when your team desperately needs them.

On the back of the great work done by Breayley-Nati; Millie Boyle was able to do her thing with 174 metres and 41 tackles in a massive effort.

An experienced Bear with grand final wins under her belt, Boyle said the team’s preparation this week would not vary too much from what had got them into the decider.

“I don’t think it will be too much different, you don’t want to change too many things,” Boyle said.

“I know that we have a few players back from different injuries and suspensions, so it will be good to have a full strong team and to finally give it our best shot and that is all we can really give.

“It comes down to on the day, who really wants it the most because there are two very quality sides and it will just be who turns up on the say and who is willing to do the work.”

Boyle also praised the competition, saying every week presented challenges and it was exciting to be rewarded for hard work shown all season.

“It’s really exciting (to be in the grand final); I think it just shows how hard you have you work throughout the regular season,” Boyle said.

“It’s not too long, but you have to make all those games count to get there because we have had some tough games there, so did Valleys.

“Definitely hats off to the other teams, they really stepped it up and got better as the season went on and it could have been a different grand final if the season was any longer.”