The Parramatta Eels' NRLW girls are hoping to bounce back this weekend with their first win of the 2022 season against St George Illawarra Dragons after their first-round loss to the reigning premiers.
Tayla Preston, Zali Fay and Ruby Jean-Kennard - the club’s inaugural Tarsha Gale graduate to reach first grade - will make their debuts for the Western Sydney side at CommBank Stadium at midday on Sunday, while Reuben Cherrington has been named 18th woman.
Preston - who replaces Brooke Walker at five-eighth to form a new halves partnership with Ash Quinlan replacing Losana Lutu who dropped out on Saturday - described being nervous but excited at the same time to run onto the field.
“It’s a great opportunity so yeah, can’t wait to get out there,” she said.
The 22-year-old hopes she can play with some confidence to help steer the women around CommBank.
“They’re pretty good. They've (Dragons) got Emma Tonegato out the back and she’s a gun, she’s fast. But I think we can definitely match them,” Preston added.
“We’ve just got to play our game and hopefully unsettle them a little bit. They’re definitely going to come out firing but so are we.”
Coach Dean Widders said the Eels need to show they want to be out there to compete for every ball and hopes improvements over training this week can secure the squad their first two points.
“We really focused in on some particular areas of our game we feel weren’t up to scratch and we need to improve quickly and we put a lot of time and effort into that at training so we hope to see that turn around quickly this week,” he said.
“I think last week we stood off the Roosters a little bit and watched in awe on a fair bit, especially on some of their big key players.
“You got to take the game to them you know whether you’re inexperienced or young or whatever it is.
“You gotta get out there and take the game to them and I think with what we’ve done in our review this week and the stuff we’ve gone through; I expect our girls to do it and take the game right to them.”
Kick-off is on Sunday 28th August at 12:00pm at CommBank Stadium.
The game will be broadcast on Foxtel and Kayo.
