Young etched into leaguetag record books

The Cherrypickers suffered an early finals exit last season, but have taken their game to a new level in 2020.

They were the only team to get the better of Kangaroos throughout the year and repeated the dose in the game that matters most.

Controlling things from the opening minutes, Young's suffocating defence gave Kangaroos limited opportunities.

Captain Jane McLennan was a standout as she guided the Cherrypickers to a 18-4 win at Equex Centre on Sunday.

The fullback was thrilled with how the young side handled the big occasion.

"I thought the nerves could get to the young team a bit but they all pulled through," McLennan said.

"It was amazing and our effort was outstanding."

Sienna Smith opened the scoring three minutes before McLennan doubled their lead six minutes later as she just got the ball down before being tagged by Lauren Jolliffe.

However a mistake after the restart gave Kangaroos a rare chance to attack Young's line and the Wagga side hit back almost immediately as Shannon Pike put Jess Beer over the line.

It cut Young's advantage to 12-4 at half-time however the Cherrypickers were able to regain their composure before Clare Smith sealed the win when she went through a big hole with nine minutes to play.

Young had been forced to come from behind in their two previous meetings with Kangaroos but McLennan thought their early try was just what the side needed.

"It set the scene and once we got that we found confidence in each other and just rolled with it," she said.

"It was really great."

McLennan was named best in Young's win.

However she credited their defensive effort for the title.

"That was our biggest play all day," she said.

"They are such a strong, attacking team so we needed to be strong in defence.

"It was great how the girls kept their talk up."

Young became just the third club to win a Group Nine leaguetag title in the past decade with Gundagai's 2015 success splitting eight premierships for Brothers.

Coach Garry Lucas was thrilled by their dominant display.

"It was a lot easier than what I thought it was going to be," Lucas said.

"It is always hard coming into a grand final undefeated.

"You always have that lingering over you but as I said to the girls the finals are a completely different comp and what you've done throughout the season doesn't mean anything if you don't go on with it so they handled that well."

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