AS IT HAPPENED: Awesome Upton leads Knights to back-to-back NRLW glory after thrilling grand final

The NRLW premiership gets decided this afternoon when the Newcastle Knights take on the Gold Coast Titans for the NRLW grand final. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 3:55pm (AEDT).

The Knights get the chance to go back-to-back today. However, they won’t have it all their own way against a Titans outfit that, amazingly enough, finished with the wooden spoon last season.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, but Newcastle accounted for Brisbane 30-24 in their preliminary final. Knights fullback Tamika Upton proved the difference, setting up two Knights tries in the first half before scoring one of her own in the second stanza.

The Knights are star studded, with Upton, the Southwell sisters and Caitlan Johnston. If the impressive Newcastle pack gets the upper hand, the craftiness of Jesse Southwell can result in a lot of points.

The Knights have named an unchanged 17, with Rima Butler set to take the final bench spot ahead of Jacinta Carter, as was the case against the Broncos.

If the first preliminary final showed some attacking prowess, the second showed the type of grit that is needed to win grand finals. The Titans beat the pre-season favourites Roosters 12-0 in a real grind.

The work rate of Georgia Hale, Shannon Mato and Jessika Elliston was simply phenomenal. From there, Lauren Brown was able to steer the team to victory. There was a late piece of brilliance, with Evania Pelite throwing a special cut out pass to Destiny Mino-Sinapati to seal the win.

Titans coach Karyn Murphy has also named an unchanged 17, which means that Lauren Brown and Chantay Kiri-Rato hold their halves spot ahead of representative playmaker Taliah Fuimaono.

Prediction

The Titans will come to Accor looking to go set for set with the Knights, similar to what they did against the Roosters. They were patient and took advantage of the opportunities when they came.

The Knights will chance their arm a little bit more but also have a pack that is happy to slot into the yardage game.

I don’t think there will be a whole lot in this but Upton and Jesse Southwell have the poise to come up with classy plays when the game is on the line.

Knights by 4.

Game information

Venue: Accor Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 3:55pm (AEST)
TV: Nine, Fox League
Streaming: Kayo Sports, 9Now
Betting: Knights $1.50, Titans $2.60 – odds via PlayUp

Teams

Knights

1 Tamika Upton, 2 Sheridan Gallagher, 3 Shanice Parker, 4 Abigail Roache, 5 Jasmin Strange, 6 Georgia Roche, 7 Jesse Southwell, 8 Tayla Predebon, 9 Olivia Higgins, 10 Caitlan Johnston, 11 Laishon Albert-Jones, 12 Yasmin Clydsdale, 13 Hannah Southwell (c).

Interchange: 14 Nita Maynard, 15 Tiana Davison, 16 Kayla Romaniuk, 17 Rima Butler.

Reserves: 18 Jacinta Carter, 19 Caitlin Moran, 20 Felila Kia, 21 Tamerah Leati, 22 Jayde Herdegen.

Titans

1 Evania Pelite, 2 Karina Brown, 3 Jaime Chapman, 4 Niall Williams-Guthrie, 5 Destiny Mino-Sinapati, 6 Chantay Kiri-Ratu, 7 Lauren Brown, 8 Shannon Mato, 9 Brittany Breayley-Nati, 10 Jess Elliston, 11 Zara Canfield, 12 Shaylee Bent, 13 Georgia Hale.

Interchange: 14 Sienna Lofipo, 15 Steph Hancock, 16 Rilee Jorgensen, 17 Dannii Perese

Reserves: 18 Taliah Fuimaono, 19 Kaitlyn Phillips, 20 Laikha Clarkea, 21 Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell, 22 Emily Bass