Wet and greasy conditions were no issue for the Brisbane Broncos who have all but locked in a spot in their second consecutive NRLW grand final following their 20-0 victory over the Roosters at AAMI Park in Melbourne.
The opening half was dominated by the Broncos but it was a brutal first 10 minutes that saw the Broncos get their only tries of the first half. Inside the first 10 minutes, the Roosters only saw 8% of possession and the Broncos opened the scoring after just four minutes when Ali Brigginshaw dragged in the Roosters defence on the last tackle before putting Annette Brandner in from close range.
The Broncos added their second try after just nine minutes when there was nothing doing for Brisbane until Ali Brigginshaw turned the ball back inside for Amber Pilley who put the footwork on and the afterburners on as she went through some poor Roosters defence to score. Chelsea Baker put the conversion through to take the score out to 10-0.
Despite dominating field position and the statistics, the Broncos couldn't add to their 10-0 lead in the first half despite the Roosters struggles with possession and the consistent good field position.
The second half for the Broncos started almost as a replica of the first half with two early tries whilst the Roosters struggled to maintain possession or put any attacking pressure on the Broncos. The Broncos opened the second half scoring through forward Rona Peters. After getting the ball back from the kick-off, the Broncos just tried a ram raid attack for the set in the middle of the park and it worked as Peters got through 1-on-1 with the defender to score.
The final try in the match came off some individual brilliance from Ali Brigginshaw who saw a gap in behind the Roosters line and got a kick away for herself to chase and score. The wet conditions put pay to any expansive football and the game peated out with the Broncos holding onto their 20-0 lead.
Next weekend, the Broncos will take on the NZ Warriors on Saturday night, whilst the Roosters have a very important match against the Dragons on Sunday afternoon at Leichhardt Oval.