Eden’s Alex Spivey had a career-defining best on ground performance for the Tigerettes on Sunday.
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Spivey was a double try-scorer and a standout to secure the woman of the match medal as the Tigerettes stunned the Bombala High Heelers 18-0 in the Group 16 grand final.
Most pundits would have banked on the High Heelers to take out the crown, but it was the Tigerettes who stole the show to claim their maiden premiership in front of a vocal Eden crowd at the Bega Recreation Ground.
Things didn’t look so great at the outset when the Tigerettes knocked on from the kick off, but the ensuing defensive effort to keep Bombala at bay did paint a picture for what fans could expect throughout.
The Heelers were mounting good attack early, but handling errors fell both ways in the icy and blustery conditions.
An ice-breaker would soon set the mood for the Tigerettes when Tamika Millard took an intercept and bolted 80 metres to score with Kiarna Mitchell comfortably kicking the two to lead 6-0.
The Tigerettes then pushed the left edge and it was Steph Douch making a great scoot out of dummy half to blast past Bombala and push the lead to 10-0.
If ever there was a time the Tigerettes’ defence was going to crack it was after that as the Heelers forced about three repeat sets as knock-ons hurt the Eden efforts.
However a Bombala knock-on and one of Spivey’s many massive bursts from the day kept Eden from danger as she broke loose to charge 40 metres up field.
With Amy Stone and Georgie Clarke looking dangerous, Bombala were again mounting try-line pressure, forcing Eden to an early kick, but again Spivey stood head and shoulders from the pack to run down and regather the loose ball.
Early in the second half, Ebony Pointon had a good run off a left-edge linebreak, but it was a sweeping right hand play that saw again Spivey burst through the Bombala line and set Eden loose 14-0.
And then, 19 minutes into the second half, Spivey ensured she was going home with both the premiership and woman of the match medal, breaking through for a 70-metre blast to the posts.
The High Heelers constantly looked threatening and the scoreline was almost hard to believe.
Bombala regathered a short restart late, but for the Tigerettes the final minutes of play became about proving they could keep a clean docket against what many would deem the best league-tag outfit in the competition.
And the Tigerettes’ defence proved unbreakable as the Heelers were again turned away with the Eden bench – and plenty of the crowd – storming the field in celebration as the siren sounded.