The Glen Innes Magpies league tag team toppled the Moree Boars to land the first spot in the Group 19 grand final.
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The Magpies battled through “gale force” winds in the opening half of Sunday’s major semi-final in Moree and were down 12-2 at the break. In the second-half, the Glen Innes girls held their opponents to nil as Alisa Tunamena, Sarah Byrne and Breanna Grange crossed for tries to take the win 18-12.
Coach David Willis said it was a matter of hanging in there in the first-half and to capitalise on their determination in the later stages of the game.
“At half-time we thought we had done the hard yards against the wind, we couldn't get out of our 50,” he said.
“I was happy with their performance in the first-half, I thought in the second-half we could put the points on and we did. We scored 16 points to their nothing in the second-half.”
Willis was proud of his team’s efforts and couldn’t fault anything.
“They all played well, it was the best performance I had seen from all the girls,” he said.
“They did well and I can't single out any player that outperformed anyone else really. Everyone does what they have got to do, don't get concerned about anyone's performance, just worry about your own and that's what happens – you get the win.”
Heading into the clash, Glen Innes hadn’t beaten the Boars this year from two matches.
Willis said in their two earlier encounters, his side hadn’t been at full-strength.
“When we played them up here we had those two suspended girls and when we played them over there we had five away,” he said.
“Not taking anything away from Moree, they deserved to be the minor premiers but we knew in the back of our minds that we were full-strength for the first time.”
The Boars will now play Inverell in the preliminary final this Sunday for the chance to take on the Magpies in the grand final.
Willis is tipping an upset.
“A couple of weeks ago I said any team could win and I am pretty sure Inverell might be the team we will be playing in the grand final,” he said.
“They have got that home ground advantage, they have got three teams in it. That was our motivation, we didn't want to lose yesterday [Sunday] and then go to Inverell, we would have been up against it.”
Willis said his team will be continue consolidating their game plan in the two weeks until the grand final.