Dragons leave it late to end Bulldogs’ NRLW streak
Margie McDonald |
A final-minute try to Dragons half Kasey Reh has ended the Bulldogs’ NRLW winning streak.
St George Illawarra clinched a thrilling 18-14 win over Canterbury in their third-round clash at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Saturday.
The two sides were difficult to separate all day, with scores locked at 10-10 at halftime and 14-14 with 20 minutes left.
Three field-goal attempts in the dying minutes also couldn’t separate the sides, until Reh latched on to a Nita Maynard-Perrin pass with 30 seconds left to sprint to the line.
In the other two matches on Saturday, the Eels scored a commanding 46-12 win over the Raiders, and a depleted Cowboys outfit missing fullback Jakiya Whitfeld and halfback Kirra Dibb upset the Sharks at home 16-14.
The Dragons had two tries disallowed by the Bunker and two players held up over the line, but still managed to get the victory.
“It kind of felt like we were destined to win, but then I was also wondering how we were going to win it,” Dragons coach Nathan Cross said.
“It was just what we needed for our season. I’m just so proud of the girls because we had a pretty tough week with illness,” adding that only 14 players were able to make the club’s last training session.
Centre Bobbi Law had her appendix removed, hooker Zali Hopkins was hospitalised with a chest infection, and captain Raecene McGregor, Pia Tapsell, Hannah Southwell, Madison Mulhall and Indie Bostock all had viral infections.
“We’re a pretty resilient group and we never wanted to make that an excuse, and wins like today help build that resilience,” Cross said.
Former Origin halfback Rachael Pearson was integral to the Parramatta Eels making their highest score in club history in their 46-12 win over the Canberra Raiders at GIO Stadium.
Pearson’s try and seven conversions gave her a personal tally of 18 points, also a Parramatta record for an NRLW player.
The Eels were up 10-0 after 10 minutes through tries by hooker Rueben Cherrington under the posts and winger Martha Mataele on her 26th birthday.
The Raiders pulled back a couple, but then Eels captain Mahalia Murphy, in her first game after overcoming a hamstring injury, scored to help Parramatta to a 22-8 half-time lead.
Despite a double to Raiders winger Madison Bartlett, the Eels put on another four tries in the second half, including a maiden four-pointer to former Australian Schoolgirls forward Tess McWilliams.
It has been an unhappy start to the 2025 season for the Raiders, having lost all three games at home.
For the Cowboys it was a welcome bounce-back after a disappointing 20-point loss to the Knights in Townsville last week.
The Sharks made a late challenge after being down 12-4 at the break to lead 14-12 with 10 minutes to play.
But Cowboys centre Jasmine Peters crossed to hand Cronulla their second loss at home by just two points. They also lost 18-16 to the Eels in round one.
AAP
