LIONS NOT FEELING THE PRESSURE AS BROTHERS’ BELIEF INCREASES
IT is one of the oldest battles in history, the experienced up against the upstarts.
A team with a meticulous, welltrained game plan against a team willing to do anything and everything.
The pressure is all on the Western Lions as they aim to cement the side’s legacy after an undefeated Townsville District Rugby League season.
But against them in the grand final is a Brothers side with everything to play for and nothing to lose.
A side that most had written off before a ball had been kicked this season, but a team that has grown to defy the odds as the year went on.
Still the Lions, who have not missed a step all season, will be the obvious frontrunners. It could heap the pressure on them, but captain Paige Horvat said she hadn’t felt it.
“We are just trying to keep the game we have played all year knowing that what we have done has worked,” she said. “We don’t want the pressure on us.
“We have been trying to keep it calm around everyone and that seems to have worked so far.
“When we are at training we are all laughing and having a good time and when we are on the field, we are having a good time. That is just what gets us over the line.”
While Brothers might go into the grand final as the obvious underdogs, someone forgot to tell their captain.
Lyrech Mara is not a player short on confidence.
She has dominated this season, scoring 27 tries across the year including four in last weekend’s preliminary final win over Centrals Tigers.
But the barnstorming forward couldn’t care about the tries or the line breaks or the big hits.
What she cares about is the women around her, and watching them grow into what she considers a genuine premiership threat.
“Our girls are there just to play the game, we have a lot of girls who have never played the game before. You can call us that underdog tag if you want,” she said. “It has been a big learning process for those girls. It is a big process for us all, and it is not just a learning curve for them but also the players who have had the experience.
“I have big belief in us.”