Harvey Norman NSW Cup 2025 Season comments

Billy said:
Final top 6

20 Knights
16 Mounties
16 Sharks
16 Steelers
16 Eels
11 Souths

We should get a week off and play the winners between Steelers and Eels for a grandfinal spot.

Evie Jones went off early, limping badly, but she might be right in 2 weeks.
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Great result, seems like they’re pretty dominant. Nice to know we’ve got plenty of talent that should start coming through as well as good depth which is something most NRLW teams don’t have
 
Newygirl said:
Great result, seems like they’re pretty dominant. Nice to know we’ve got plenty of talent that should start coming through as well as good depth which is something most NRLW teams don’t have
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One loss for the season - lost to the Eels 12 - 16 in round 3, and that was about our weakest squad for the year.

Even in the last few games, we have seen 18 year old winger Ava Glassie emerge as a real star. She was terrible in Tarsha Gale this year because she dropped the ball nearly every time she was tackled - but the speedy, elusive, 6 foot tall winger has learnt to catch and hold onto the ball and has burst onto the scene.
18 year old Emily McArthur at prop is also going from strength to strength. She was probably our best middle yesterday - better than Kukutai and Tinoa.
 
Oddly, the HVN cup is going with a 4 team finals series.

Knights v Steelers in the 1st v 4th game

Mounties V Sharks in the 2nd v 3rd game

All at Jubilee Stadium - so pretty much home games for the teams in 3rd and 4th place.

The strangest result is the Eels missing finals. The Eels lost their first 2 games of the season and went on an 8 game winning streak and just needed to beat 10th placed Wests to finish in 2nd place, but lost and missed the finals on for and against. They are the only side to beat the Knights this year, and I thought they were our biggest threat.

We have had comfortable wins over Steelers, Sharks and Mounties - but not having players like Simpson, Finau, Giampino, Mercedez, White and possibly Morris will make it tough next week.
 
Evie Jones is out - hope it's not the hamstring again - but it could be.

Ashlee Harvey is back in the 7 and Joeli Morris is 5/8.

Ollerton will start at 9 instead of off the bench. The team looks much better when she is on the field, but her high energy style means she can't do 70 minutes.

Lilly White at fullback and Kayla Henderson goes from fullback to wing.

It's a strong side with lots of experience.
 
1. Lilly-Ann White - makes line breaks and scores tries for fun at this level
2. Kayla Henderson - an Australian schoolgirls rep who has played mostly fullback for us, but equally good on the wing
3. Saxbii Shaw - has only had a few games -
4. Lucy Spain - queen of try assits. She is really good at drawing the defence and setting up her winger
5. Tyla Brown - she was great last year but has gone to a whole new level this year - speedy, try scoring winger.
6. Joeli Morris - Evie Jones is out, so experienced utility Joeli Morris goes from hooker to 5/8
7. Ashlee Harvey - missed last week. She is an experienced half with a great kicking game. Her and Evie Jones looked great together 2 weeks ago.
8. Grace Kukutai - as dominant as Millie Elliott at this level, and a big game performer. She was our best in the GF last year.
9. Leah Ollerton - my player of the year. A constant threat at dummy half and the team comes alive when she is on.
10. Emily McArthur - Last week speedy winger Ava Glassie made a line break and ran 30 before the cover defence got across - the only player supporting her was prop Emily McArthur, who took the pass and ran away to score.
11. Sophie Buller - very experienced forward who has been playing at a number of places for years. Has played QLD cup, etc etc. Real competitor
12. Carissa Reid - plays second row and centre - scores a lot of tries - smallish for a forward but very strong and surprisingly fast.
13. Leilani Ah Sam - middle forward who was still young enough for tarsha Gale this year

Interchange:

14. Tazmyne Luschwitz - utility who will probably play some hooker this game, but also plays in the halves
15. Rubie Drake-Brockman - rapidly improving young middle
16. Aaliyah Paki - rapidly improving young middle
17. Liz Montgomery - rapidly improving young middle
 
Joeli Morris and Lilly White are on the extended bench for firstgrade.

They will be big losses.

I imagine Henderson will go to fullback, Glassie will come onto the wing and Luschwitz to 5/8 and maybe another forward for the bench.

It would be much better if our minor premiers could play at MJS before firstgrade, rather than in Sydney on the same day.
 
Billy said:
8. Grace Kukutai - as dominant as Millie Elliott at this level, and a big game performer. She was our best in the GF last year.
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Wow that’s a statement. So is there a pretty massive gap between the two grades?

Some players have come in and handled it fine but Grace has really struggled in first grade
 
Newygirl said:
Wow that’s a statement. So is there a pretty massive gap between the two grades?

Some players have come in and handled it fine but Grace has really struggled in first grade
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I can't explain it.
She seems to get gassed very quickly in the top grade and plays long minutes and breaks tackles easily and frequently in the lower grade.
Joeli Morris and Lilly White are also outstanding in the lower grade and just hold their own in the top grade - but Fane actually looks like a better player in firstgrade, and Keighley Simpson had easily her best game by a long, long way in firstgrade.
 
Yes that it is quite odd that there’s such a wide gap with her performances.

Fane was great and so was Simpson. Apparently it’s also her first year of league too, so all the more impressive.
 
Joeli Morris and Luschwitz are out

Lilly White moves from fullback to 5/8 and Henderson goes to fullback
Ava Glassie comes in to play wing.
Charley Lahmert to 14.
 
  • Leah Ollerton 2'
  • Leah Ollerton 16'
  • Grace Kukutai 19'
  • Saxbii Shaw 23'
  • Lucy Spain 31'
  • Grace Kukutai 58'
Try scorers today.

Three of todays players, Ava Glassie, Brandi Davis-Welsh and Charley Lahmert - are named to play for Northern Hawks in the real NRL grandfinal tomorrow. Brandi was 18th player, so should be right, and Charley only got short minutes filling in for Leah Ollerton, but Ava played a full game on the wing and is named at fullback tomorrow.
 
Ashlee Harvey v former Australian halfback Maddie Studdon was a big feather in the cap for bush player Harvey. It looked a pretty even contest.
 
Watched the game again with the sound on this time - not watching firstgrade and keeping an eye on the computer screen to see how they are going in reserves.

Commentators were raving about Ollerton, saying things like "hard to believe she hasn't played NRLW", "an elite talent at dummy half" in the end one of the commentators said "I'll give her my finances, she could handle them as well".
She did have a massive game with 2 tries, 1 try assist, at least 4 line breaks and some big metres run, and she was also massive in defence.

Ahsam was another who had a huge game - she played 65 of the 70 minutes at lock and got through a mountain of work. On the 60 minute mark she made a line break and passed to Kukutai to score, after making a huge number of runs and tackles. They gave her a rest not long after.

In the game it was pointed out Ollerton scored her 8th try of the year, making her equal top try scorer with Tess Staines. Last year she was equal top try scorer with Fane Finau.

I have no doubt Ollerton will play firstgrade next year, if not here, somewhere else. She seems to be the ideal bench hooker to come on against tired players. If the markers are lazy at all, she is off to the races, and if they are lazy near the line, she's getting low and going in for a try.
 
Yeah that’s weird if she’s going that well, why not have her sub Higgins and use Kirkpatrick as a pure middle? Kirkpatrick is better than using Tinao or Kukutai as a middle
 
Ava Glassie scored a try off a Charley Lahmert pass to put Northern Hawks up 26 - 10 in the real NRL grandfinal, but Maitland scored 3 tries and a field goal to win 27-26.
I wonder is having 3 girls play yesterday had anything to do with the Hawks fading like that.
 
Grandfinal side

1. Lilly-Ann White

2. Kayla Henderson

3. Saxbii Shaw

4. Lucy Spain

5. Tyla Brown

6. Joeli Morris

7. Ashlee Harvey

8. Grace Kukutai

9. Leah Ollerton

10. Emily McArthur

11. Sophie Buller

12. Carissa Reid (C)

13. Leilani Ah Sam

Interchange:

14. Charley Lahmert

15. Makaah Darcy

16. Aaliyah Paki

17. Liz Montgomery

Extended Bench:

18. Tazmyne Luschwitz

19. Rubie Drake-Brockman

20. Mercedez Taulelei-Siala

I expect Mercedez will be in for Shaw if she's fit. Shaw and Glassie let in all the tries scored against us v Steelers except the last one, so Mercedez and Henderson will do a lot better in defence I think.
 
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