GOANNAS were crushed by the Panorama Platypi when the two teams came together for their Western Women's Rugby League under 14s regular season match earlier this campaign.
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But in the game that mattered most it was a different story.
Goannas came away 32-14 winners over the minor premiers in Saturday's grand final at Jack Arrow Sporting Complex.
Nakita Volivakarua produced a player of the game performance at lock while second rower Maddison Higgins was a force with the ball as she celebrated a grand final hat-trick.
Volivakarua said that the team had to be on the ball against a dangerous Platypi squad, and that they hardly put a foot wrong in the big game.
"I'm stoked. It's my second grand final win this year after we won the league tag as well," she said.
"Last time we played them we got beaten by quite a lot, and after their first try here I was feeling a little bit nervous.
"But once we got into the flow of the game we started picking it up. It was a bit nerve racking knowing that they'd beaten us by the score they did.
"In the end we really stepped it up. This was our first grand final win as a group so it's awesome."
Panorama coach Kurt Hancock said that despite the result there's still a great future ahead for his side.
"Dubbo did the little things better than us today and that's going to be a learning experience for our girls," he said.
"In saying that, they were brave and they've been great all year so I'm really proud of their efforts. There's only two or three of these girls who have played in any grand final across their different sports so that's a great experience for them.
"I just hope they all come back and keep enjoying their footy."
Platypi's Tilly Hancock and Goannas' Higgins traded early tries during an evenly poised start to the grand final.
Panorama invited pressure on themselves thanks to errors in the their own territory, and on two occasions Volivakarua pounced on a dropped bomb to score.
Platypi managed to get the deficit back to 16-10 at half-time thanks to a great solo try to Jamie Jones.
Strong runs from Hancock and Grace O'Neill put Panorama into great field position early in the second half but the team couldn't keep possession until the end of those sets.
Things began to get away from the hosts when Higgins and Maleigha Jeffries each scored tries to push the score out to 24-10 with 20 minutes to go.
O'Neill scored a try against the run of play to give Panorama hope but a hat-trick try to Higgins and a try for Rosie Quirk secured the result for the visitors.
In a silver lining for the Platypi the player of the season award went to Hancock.
GOANNAS 32 (Maddison Higgins 3, Nakita Volivakarua 2, Rosie Quirk, Maleigha Jeffries tries; Torah Brien 2 conversions) defeated PANORAMA PLATYPI 14 (Jamie Jones, Grace O'Neill, Tilly Hancock tries; Hancock conversion)
Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
