Kylie's Korner: Sky Blues coach points out who to watch in Round Five

Sky Blues coach Kylie Hilder talks about the matches and players to watch in Round Five of Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership and Tarsha Gale Cup.

Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership

Picking a match of the round this week is tough as we’re five rounds into the competition and there have been some good results and great individual performances.

So I’ll move through all the teams playing this weekend because they all deserve a mention.

It is hard to split the North Sydney Bears v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, 1st versus 3rd in Monday night’s game, and Saturday’s match between the Central Coast Roosters and Wests Tigers.

The Bulldogs are coming off a close win (22-21) over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks last week, which means another good battle in the middle this week with Holli Wheeler up against her 2021 Sky Blues teammate Sarah Togatuki for the Bears.

International Gayle Broughton has moved from fullback now to five-eighth and complemented Bulldogs halfback Tayla Preston really well last week. Now she takes on NSWRL’s Harvey Norman Player of the Year for 2022 in Kirra Dibb.

Her Bears halves partner, Nita Maynard, has been in sparkling form too.

The Roosters need to string some wins together, sitting in sixth spot on the ladder, and that job will be harder against fourth-placed Wests Tigers fresh from their come-from-behind win against Mounties.

The first game up is the Sharks against South Sydney and I’ve been really impressed with the Rabbitohs halves Pihuka Duff and Sian Filipo in the way they are directing traffic.

Souths were a bit of a punching bag last year with just one win in nine rounds.

But they are flying under the radar this year. They lost by just four points to the Bulldogs in Round Two, by a field goal in Round Three against Wests Tigers, and deservedly claimed their first win last week 16-12 over the Knights.

Mounties take on Wentworthville and with the power in those two big forward packs, this will be a terrific battle in the middle.

Mounties young hooker Janaya Bent is raising a few eyebrows with her creative play and she’s combining well with experienced halfback in Matilda Power. The more time Janaya has at No.9 the better it will be for Mounties.

The local derby between St George and the Illawarra Steelers could be a long day in the office for the Dragons as Steelers halves Rachael Pearson and Taliah Fuimaono are starting to work their magic.

They were central in the Steelers 20-16 win over the Roosters last weekend, along with hooker Keeley Davis making her club football return after the Jillaroos World Cup tour last year.

And it is hard for the Dragons being a new team in the competition, but they will find their feet.

Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup

How heartening is it for NSW fans to see so many talented girls emerging in Tarsha Gale?

Case in point is the Canberra Raiders big 44-4 win over Wests Tigers last weekend with their fullback Georgia Willey and centre Lara Cosgrove two of the stand-outs in a quality line-up.

The Raiders host the Parramatta Eels at Belconnen this weekend and these two teams are close to each other on the ladder – 4th and 6th respectively.

The Indigenous Academy Roosters are undefeated at the top of the table and going for their fifth win when they face the Bears.

Penrith had a strong win (34-16) over an injury-hit Manly last weekend with second rower Piper Spackman playing in the centres and scoring two tries, while hooker Montana McLean was again dangerous around the ruck.

Manly prop Tafao Asaua worked hard and was rewarded with a try.

There are some quality forwards in Tarsha Gale and another, who is impressive, is Dragons captain Maddison Mulhall. Watch her leadership, when they take on the Steelers in Kogarah on Saturday.