Tigers Ready To Face Roosters in Country Championship Final

A tough preparation has the GSR Wests Tigers ready to take down defending champions, the Central Coast Roosters in the Final of the Ladies League Tag Country Championships at Kirkham Park, Camden on Saturday.

GSR Wests Tigers Coach Robbie Mears believes his side’s hard-fought win against Illawarra in the Semi-Finals was good preparation leading up to the contest with Central Coast.

“We knew Illawarra we’re going to be tough, we didn’t know how we we’re going to go,” Mears said.

“Obviously, we had a really good win the week before against Monaro and the experience down there with the Group 7 girls was a good hit-out for us and I think it will be very similar again tomorrow.

“Central Coast play a very fast game, so our defence is going to have to be on song.

“We’ve just got make sure we’re there and we’ve got to compete for the full 25 minute periods.”

Mears has been impressed with Karina Brightwell, Corinne Mears, Aimee Byrne and Brooke Anderson and is hoping their strong form continues this week.

Central Coast Roosters Coach Jeff Coroneos says his side played well against Greater Northern but will need to make improvements to defeat one of the best sides in the competition.

“I think we played our best game, we definitely improved from the week before; we’ve probably improved each game so I was happy with that,” Coroneos said.

“Our ball control was slightly better but not quite where it needs to be to beat Wests.

“They are the best team in the competition; to be realistic, to be any chance to beat them we’re going to have to improve a lot.”

There are seven members of the Roosters that were part of last year’s Championship-winning squad and Central Coast will be fielding the same team from the Semi-Finals, which Coronoes believes to be a big advantage.

“They’re definitely excited to go again, the ones that have been there before.

“The fact that we’ve been unchanged has really helped us improve each game so we’re happy that we didn’t have to make any changes this week because I think we’ve got the best possible team and that’ll give us our best chance against Wests.”

Coroneos says his players to watch are skilful 17-year-old Jocelyn Kelleher, experienced fullback Holly Buchanan and Captain Stephanie Sharp.

The GSR Wests Tigers v Central Coast Roosters match will kick off at 11:00am and will take place at Kirkham Park, Camden. The Country Championship Semi-Finals will be live stream via the CRL Facebook page and website thanks to BAR TV Sports.