Roosters cap off perfect season with record equalling win

The Sydney Roosters have capped off the perfect season in style, having sought revenge for last year’s Grand Final defeat to become premiers without losing a game all year, beating Brisbane 30-6.

For the second year running and the fourth time since the NRLW’s inception in 2018, the Roosters and the Broncos met at Accor Stadium.

Coming into the clash, both sides were looking to send out some of their champions with a fairy-tale finish, with Roosters prop Millie Elliott and fullback Corban Baxter alongside Broncos five-eighth Ali Brigginshaw retiring at the conclusion of the match.

But from the get-go, the undefeated Tricolours made the most of the Broncos side that struggled to get out of their own way.

Within the fourth minute of the match, a Jocelyn Kelleher kick across the field managed to clear the Broncos’ defence, with winger Brydie Parker diving on the loose ball for the first points of the game. That proved to be the first of many to come.

Parker would score her second 22 minutes later, with tries from Isabelle Kelly, Tarryn Aiken, Jayme Fressard and Amber Hall giving the Roosters a 26-nil lead at half-time, which all but put the game on ice.

Whilst Sydney dominated the clash, they also benefited from Brisbane’s countless errors during the first half, seeing the Broncos barely have possession and territory, leaving SEN League’s Mary Konstantopoulos in disbelief at half-time.

“I'm almost speechless to be perfectly honest,” she said.

“We deserve a competitive end to what is a wonderful season, and this is when people are tuning into the women's game, and we want a real exhibition of what the women's game can be.

“And unfortunately, this has not been the Broncos' best performance today.”

Despite the Broncos being better in the second half, the Roosters still continued to score, with Parker scoring a hat-trick to put the result beyond doubt.

Brisbane did save their blushes with Jesse Southwell scoring with five minutes left to avoid being held scoreless. But it didn’t stop them from equalling St. George Illawarra for the biggest defeat in an NRLW Grand Final.

Tarryn Aiken would claim the Karyn Murphy Medal after missing last year's decided having managed a statline of two try assists, two line break assists and a try.