PORT Macquarie duo Jazzy Wilbow and Simone Smith will be key players for the East Coast Dolphins in their league tag grand final in Wollongong on Saturday.
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Wilbow and Smith have been consistent performers for the Dolphins in their two wins over Canberra (28-0) and Greater Southern Stars (18-10) on the way to the decider.
Wauchope quartet Natalie Hurrell, Larissa Ward, Emily Lester and Kristy Roods have also played their part.
Smith conceded they had surprised everyone – including themselves – to have had such a successful competition.
“We had no idea what the competition was like in the other groups so it’s good to see our competition is up there,” she said.
“We knew we had a good team, but we’re surprised we’ve gotten as far as we have. The team we played last week were favourites to win the competition. We were told they had a few Jillaroos in their team.”
They acknowledged the Stars didn’t play as well as they could have.
At the start of the country championships Wilbow made the transition from fullback into the forwards and hasn’t looked back.
She said she enjoyed defending in the middle of the park although it meant less room to move.
“Defence wins you games so we’ll need to make sure we’re on our game on Saturday,” Wilbow said.
They know their defence will have to be at its best to defeat a Central Coast side who snuck through to the final after a gripping last minute 14-11 win over the Greater Northern Tigers in Dubbo last Saturday.
Smith and Wilbow will hope their combination from playing with the Port City Breakers of a weekend will help give them the edge over the girls from the Coast.
Wilbow has scored one try while Smith has crossed for two and set up a few others.
“We have the added advantage of playing together of a weekend so we know the way each other plays,” Wilbow said.
“The coach has also introduced some new structures.”
Smith has started off the bench so far in the tournament and come on to take advantage of tiring players.
That again looks like it will be the case on Saturday.
“She comes on when the other team are fatigued and tells me where I need to be and what holes I need to hit. It seems to have worked so far.”
The inaugural Ladies League Tag Country Championship Final will be played at Collegians Sports Centre from 11am on Saturday.
This year’s AAMI Country Championship Finals can be enjoyed by rugby league fans across the country as all matches will be Live Streamed via BarTV Sports and crlnsw.com.au from 11am.
The Dolphins will leave for Wollongong on Friday.