Group 3: Port City Breakers one win from third-straight league tag grand final

The voice inside their head that gently reminds them what happens when a team becomes complacent.

And after Saturday’s 52-4 romp over Taree City, the Breakers are primed to avenge last year’s heartbreaking grand final loss to Old Bar.

Now they’re one win from their third-straight grand final and two wins from the ultimate prize.

They have only lost two games in two years – one of which was that 10-4 season-deciding defeat on the biggest day of their 2017 campaign.

The year before the Breakers went through the competition undefeated.

Continuing to draw parallels, so far they’ve replicated that 2016 success which culminated in a 10-6 win over Taree City.

They’re also undefeated so far in 2018.

Coach Troy Roach said the key to their perfect 2018 season started way back on their first training run.

“At the start of the year the girls asked me if they could be pushed,” Roach said.

“From the outside looking in it looks as though it’s been easy, but they’ve had to work really hard.

“No matter how hard I push them, none of them have come back to me and told me to ease up.”

Roach admitted the more senior players had gone up another level this season and had been well supported by some of their juniors.

“I’ve been really blessed with the talent the girls have got, but it’s more than that,” he said.

“Our senior girls have really started to stand up and on the end of that we’ve got some junior girls who have got a lot of pace.

“You just can’t coach pace.”

Senior players including Nakita Binge, Jazzy Wilbow and Britt Mackay were standouts in Saturday’s 48-point win.

Binge scored five tries, Wilbow and Mackay pulled the strings in attack while Larissa Ward was a constant threat at fullback.

Roach admitted last year’s grand final defeat had spurred his team on.

“No doubt about it,” he said.

“You could say we’ve lost two games in three years so it’s very hard to keep that intensity up.”

That drop in intensity cost them back-to-back premierships and Roach said they were focused on fixing that this year.

“It’s human nature,” he said.

The Breakers will play the winner of Wauchope and Old Bar for the right to be the first team through to the 2018 grand final.

But there will be no rest as Roach indicated they would have three training sessions this week.

“I asked them if they wanted to train in the week off and not one of them said they didn’t want to, so we’ll have a full training run on Sunday and then head out to Wauchope,” he said.

“It’s been a real good year, I couldn’t have asked for more from the girls.

“No doubt the teams that have made the finals will be really hard and it means the comp starts again.”