Specsavers Katrina Fanning Shield Grand Final Preview
The Yass Magpies and the Valley Dragons will go head to head to battle it out for the Katrina Fanning Shield this Saturday afternoon at GIO Stadium.
Both the Magpies and the Dragons will both be wanting to get their name on the shield for the first time since the competition began in 2017.
The Magpies have bounced back after last year’s grand final loss by going the entire 2019 season undefeated, winning all 11 matches in the regular season.
The Magpies have also beaten the Valley Dragons on both occasions this season, including a 42-6 semi-final win that saw them enjoy a week off and go straight into the grand final.
Yass captain Sami Afele says her team are more than ready to go, and are using last year’s loss to motivate them.
“It sucked to get that far and lose,” said Afele. “You never know when your next grand final is going to be so it would be awesome to win this premiership.”
Yass aiming to bounce back from 2018 heartbreak
The Magpies are celebrating their 100th year as a club, and Afele said it would be very special to bring home the shield to the supportive town.
“The support in Yass has been great,” said Afele. “Everyone has been getting around us and coming to our games this season, they see us in the streets and say good luck.”
The Valley Dragons will be raring to go after defeating the Queanbeyan Blues last weekend 26-10 thanks to a double from Rosaline Aumale.
This is the Valley Dragons first Katrina Fanning Shield grand final appearance, and Nirvana Ngan-Woo said the team is looking forward to the occasion.
Dragons surprised by rapid rise
“We’re very excited,” said Ngan-Woo. “We’ve set little goals and ticked them off during the season.”
Ngan-Woo said that the team weren’t planning to make it to the finals, rather than improve on last year’s campaign which saw them miss out on finals completely.
“This year, the grand final wasn’t one of our main goals,” said Ngan-Woo. “We were just rebuilding on what happened last year. We had a lot of girls return so that was really good and it’s even better we have made it to the grand final.”
The game takes place this Saturday at GIO Stadium, kick-off being at 12:45pm, with the game being a curtain raiser for the Canberra Raiders game against the New Zealand Warriors.
