Four teams remain in the fight to claim their place in the VB NSW Cup’s biggest day of the year – the grand final – with a climactic preliminary final double header featuring the Wyong Roos up against the Canterbury Bulldogs and Mounties taking on the Newcastle Knights at Leichhardt Oval this Sunday, 20 September.
In an action-packed semi final double header at Kogarah Oval on Sunday, the Knights and Bulldogs treated fans to an awesome display of dazzling skill and dizzying speed to advance to week three of the finals.
The Knights extracted long-awaited revenge for last year’s devastating grand final loss with a resounding 44-12 victory to eliminate the reigning premiers, Penrith Panthers.
In a rematch of the 2014 VB NSW Cup Grand, the Knights held a 10-6 halftime lead before they took the Panthers to school in the second half and bury last year’s demons.
Bolstered by his time in first grade, Jake Mamo destroyed the Panthers with a scintillating hat-trick of tries as well as setting up one of the tries of the year, placing a pinpoint-accurate chip kick in full flight for Kerrod Holland to regather and score.
The Knights season redemption continues with an epic showdown against the minor premiers, Mounties, for their chance to return to the grand final.
The Bulldogs juggernaut is full steam. After eliminating premiership dark horses – the North Sydney Bears – last week, the Bulldogs bounced the competition heavyweights, Warriors, from the VB NSW Cup Finals Series with an impressive 33-20 victory.
Jaline Graham was simply electric with an instrumental performance to put the Bulldogs just 80 minutes away from the grand final.
Graham earned man-of-the-match honours with two of the best solo tries you will ever see in any level of football (it was Benji Marshall-esque) that left fans with tongues wagging from their mouths.
Desperate to bounce back from last week’s loss in the qualifying finals, the Warriors took the fight right to the Bulldogs pack in a first-half arm wrestle.
Mason Lino stood out for the Kiwi side as both sides were locked at 16-all at half time.However, it was Graham who prevailed in the battle of the halves as the Bulldogs raced away with the result to set up a mouth-watering preliminary final against the red-hot Wyong Roos.
Who will take part in this season’s highly-anticipated grand final on Sunday, 27 September at Pirtek Stadium?
Will it be a season of redemption for the Knights? Will Mounties stamp their season as premiers? Will the Bulldogs finish their fairy-tale season? Or will the Wyong Roos complete their quest for the premiership?
Only time can tell.
Make sure you’re part of an explosive preliminary final double header at Leichhardt Oval this Sunday. Click here for Sunday’s footy feast.
