Women’s Grand Final: Four takeaways as York Valkryie claim second-successive title

York Valkryie beat St Helens 18-8 at the Totally Wicked Stadium to clinch their second-successive Grand Final win.

The North Yorkshire outfit twice came from behind to repeat their feat from last year, where they beat Leeds Rhinos.

Here are our four key takeaways from Women’s Grand Final.

Top line

It wasn’t pretty, but is a final ever pretty?

Conditions certainly took their toll on proceedings, and it quickly became a slogathon through the middle.

St Helens opened the scoring just after the 10-minute mark, with Leah Burke. This lead was short-lived though, as the Valkryie struck back through Lacey Owen, as she crossed the whitewash.

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Two back-to-back goals from retiring half-back Faye Gaksin gave St Helens the lead once more, however it was all one-way traffic from here.

Early into the second-half, Eboni Partington crossed for her side’s second of the afternoon; and this was followed up with a fine try from Kelsey Gentles.

St Helens piled on the pressure in the final stages, but it was too little too late as York held onto win their second Super League title, denying the Saints a historic treble in the process.

York Valkyrie dynasty?

This second-successive Grand Final win for the North Yorkshire side is the sign we needed, they are building a serious dynasty. The Valkyrie are a sign of a club growing organically, but also rapidly.

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The appointment of Lindsay Anfield has helped transform the fortunes of the club and leapfrog the men’s team by some distance in the premier side at the club. Elsewhere, the rise of players like Georgie Hetherington (who we’ll come onto later) show exactly what can happen when you bring in young talent and put them in the pressure cooker.

Add Tara-Jane Stanley back into the mix when she’s fully fit and you have a decent spine to build around for the long-term. They are now showing they are the team to beat in the women’s game, and you would be brave to bet against them making it a third next year.

Woman of Steel

If her performances throughout the season didn’t prove why Georgie Hetherington should win Woman of Steel, then her showing tonight certainly should. The back was incredible in the victory over St Helens, and was the lifeblood of the Valkryie side.

She was her side’s principle ball-carrier in attack, and things always seemed to happen around her. In trying conditions, too, she was very solid under the high ball and got her side back into decent positions up the field.

This brilliant performance just caps off a stellar season for the 27-year-old, and she more than proved why she should be named Woman of Steel.

Huge attendance recorded shows growth of Women’s game

This Grand Final was yet another sign of the rapid growth of the women’s game in the UK, as it looks to compete with the NRLW.

Attendances for the finals have increased year-on-year for this showpiece event, and a huge crowd of 4,813 packed out the Totally Wicked Stadium, breaking the record for a crowd at a Women’s Grand Final. This also comes off the back of a bumper 8,338 crowd at the Women’s Challenge Cup final.

The next step up for the Women’s game, you feel, is a date in the diary for Old Trafford, and with attendances growing every year it surely can’t be too far away now. We’ve seen just what it can do moving a final to the same venue and day as the men’s, with the Women’s Challenge Cup Final now at Wembley and having a huge effect on the growth of the women’s game.

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