The Tarsha Gale Sharks have been eliminated from the 2021 competition after being beaten 20-0 by the Roosters Indigenous Academy in their sudden-death semi-final on Saturday.
After finishing in sixth position, the Sharks always faced a tough assignment against the third-placed Roosters and while the effort couldn't be faulted the Academy girls were too good on the day, moving through while the Cronulla side were left to reflect on a season which they could be proud of.
"The girls were quite unlucky, not many calls went their way, but that's footy," Sharks coach Jonathan Te Wara said. "The 6-0 score (at half time) was a fair indicator but defending a lot in the first half cost us in the second."
"Their starting forward pack, they probably had 150kgs on us, we are close to just 55-60kgs for each of our girls, but they've got big hearts."
And despite bowing out of contention for the Tarsha Gale title, Te Wara was proud of the efforts of his team and what they had achieved throughout the year.
"We worked very hard on breeding our team camaraderie, everyone understood their roles, played to the best of their ability and that's all you can ask for," he added.
As the coach indicated, the Sharks fought hard in the first half and conceded just one try, that coming in the seventh minute of the match, with the teams going to the break with only six points separating them.
A try four minutes after half time certainly hurt the Sharks cause and when the Indigenous Academy scored a third shortly after, it was going to be an uphill battle from that point.
As hard as they might try the Sharks couldn't bridge the gap, a fourth four-pointer sealing the win for the Roosters and putting an end to the season for the Cronulla side.
