Palmo’s perfect history-making day
PALMERSTON made history winning its first ever NRL NT Women’s premiership, beating reigning premiers Sistaz 30-8.
It was a massive showing from the Raiders, who got off to the perfect start scoring four unanswered tries in the first half. Palmerston’s Ciara Aigea was named best on ground for an effort that included two tries and plenty of big runs.
Sistaz may have been the form side with the minor premiership in their hands, but it was the Raiders who showed all the confidence early on.
Aigea burst through for the opening score and the Raiders dominance didn’t end there with Kelam Nona, Christabel Aigea Faatoafe and Michala Shaw also scoring in the opening term. Sistaz looked to finally get on the board at the tail end of the half, but sloppy passing and solid defending from Raiders saw the reigning premiers go into halftime without a score.
But the reigning premiers started the second half much more pragmatically, with Talia Corrie finding space to set Abi Sekitoga up for Sistaz’s first try.
Another came not long after with Bianca Stokes setting up Tyla Kingdon and suddenly there was a contest.
But just as momentum was with Sistaz it was snapped away with Nona taking a catch and sprinting down the left wing to add another to her side’s total. The work of the Palmerston halves Ashley Stott and Shannoah Leedie continued to keep Palmerston out of trouble and a final try from Aigea sealed the deal.
“It means everything to get this win. All those injuries and long hours have paid off. It means a lot,” Aigea Faatoafe said. “Both teams did a fantastic job. They both muscled up in the middle and we came out on top hustling them out. That first half came down to confidence. Half our team are mums but we made it work.”