St George Illawarra have been handed a reality check, thrashed 30-4 by Brisbane in their inaugural WNRL match on Sunday.
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In front of 18,853 fans at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Broncos fullback Chelsea Baker was the star, scoring two tries and kicking five goals.
Baker scored early on with a diagonal run before Sam Bremner hit back for the Dragons.
But Brisbane, featuring 16 international players, saw their forward pack take over from there on to run out convincing 26-point winners.
Many judges rated the Broncos as pre-tournament favourites for the inaugural competition and looked to be on the money as Brisbane dominated.
It was a historic weekend for women’s rugby league in Australia. The opening round of its first professional competition started on Saturday night when the New Zealand Warriors downed the Sydney Roosters 10-4 at ANZ Stadium.
Both matches were played as double headers alongside the NRL elimination finals between the Warriors and Penrith and St George Illawarra against Brisbane respectively.