Before a general bye this weekend, all four Illawarra Steelers junior representative teams are currently sitting in the top eight after Round 6.
Here’s an overview of where we stand in Lisa Fiaola and Tarsha Gale Cup as we approach the crucial final three rounds of the season.
Lisa Fiaola Cup (7th)
The season started strong with a 26-0 victory over the Dragons. Coach Brad Reh was pleased with the defensive effort in the five tries to nil win at home. However, in Round 2, the team faced a tough match against the ladder-leading Bulldogs, who scored 42 points before the Steelers managed a consolation try in the final minutes.
They turned it around in Round 3, with an impressive 60 unanswered points against the Rabbitohs at Redfern Oval. Unfortunately, this was followed by consecutive losses at home to the Knights (18-0) and the Sharks (16-6).
With a challenging schedule ahead, the team will need to win at least two of their remaining three games to give themselves a chance of playing in the Finals.
Next Up: (H) Manly Sea Eagles (11th), (A) Parramatta Eels (3rd), (A) Central Coast Roosters (2nd)
What They Said: Lisa Fiaola Cup Coach Brad Reh
On his team’s position on the ladder: I’d like to be a lot higher on the table. The two games we did drop in the last two weeks, Newcastle and Cronulla, is hurting us a little bit at the moment.
On the next three rounds: Going into the last three rounds, we’re still pretty confident that we can get to where we need to. We’ve just got to turn up with bit better performance than we did the last three weeks, but the girls understand our situation. We need to win all three to make our way into the semis.
On the bye weekend: Hopefully it refreshes us a little bit. We’ll take our foot off the pedal a little bit, refresh and have a bit of fun and then come back next week and really rip back into it and we should be fine.
Tarsha Gale Cup (2nd)
Just the one blemish on their season so far securing four wins along with a narrow loss of 22-20 to the first- placed Bulldogs. By their own admission they were a bit rusty in their opening round, but still put the Dragons away 24-12
In Round 2, the Bulldogs gained an early advantage, leading 18-0 at halftime and 22-10 with 15 minutes left in the match. However, two late tries almost allowed the team to snatch victory.
Consecutive wins against the South Sydney Rabbitohs (40-10), Newcastle Knights (26-4), and Sharks (12-8) have prepared them well for their title defence as they approach the business end of the season.
Not an easy run home but will want to win all three remaining matches to maximise their chances of a successful title defence.
Next Up: (H) Manly Sea Eagles (12th), (A) Parramatta Eels (4th), (A) Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy (6th)
What They Said: Tarsha Gale Cup Coach Courtney Crawford
On sitting second on ladder: It’s definitely where we wanted to be, you know, if you’re always in the top four, you know, you’re playing some good footy. To sit second, we’re really happy with where we’re at, but we know we’ve got a tough end to the regular season, so it should be a good couple of weeks for us.
On the learnings from the loss to Bulldogs: I think for us, it’s about trying to play consistent footy for 60 minutes. Across the games so far we probably haven’t put 60 minutes together and I guess that’s the exciting part. Against the Bulldogs, we had a really poor first half, but our second half we showed what we can do.
The Bulldogs are the top team in this competition at the moment, so if we can put that 30 minutes into a 60 minute performance, it sets us up for a really good couple of matches and then into finals.
On the next three rounds: We’re playing against some top sides, which will give us a good test run and into finals. It’s a good opportunity for us to see where we’re at and get ourselves ready for finals time.
Read More >> Where We Stand | Harold Matthews & SG Ball Cup