It was a comprehensive day out for the Titans NRLW Academy, dominating the Newcastle Knights in Coffs Harbour at the weekend.
Coming away with big victories in both girls games against the Novocastrians, the Gold Coast flexed their muscle in their respective trials, impressing Titans director of female rugby league Karyn Murphy.
Standout performances from a number of Under 17 players including Tiresa Elika, India Seeto, Porsche John, Yamun-Ginda Kelly and Shalom Sauaso setup a commanding 48-6 victory in the first game of the day, which was followed up by the Under 19s who kept the opposition scoreless in a 46-0 exhibition.
This included a whopping five-try bonanza to right centre Destiny Mino, linking up with captain Sienna Lofipo - the player the Titans NRLW coach was most impressed with across the entire Academy program.
"Sienna was a player spoken about before the game as one to watch coming out of the Australian Schoolgirls and she was great through the whole campaign," Murphy said.
"In every session, she soaked up everything she could. She's a girl that just wants to learn and get better and on the weekend, she controlled the team really well in that crucial position in the halves.
"She directed the team well, her kicking game was on and most importantly, she defended really well on the edge."
The weekend of footy wraps up a busy few months for the female pathways academy, with a number of players now in the mix to receive contracts to continue training with the club.
"It was a really nice way to finish what's been a great couple of months with the girls," Murphy said.
"We obviously came in for those few weeks before Christmas and then held the training camp at the start of this year, which we were able jam pack a lot into that 24 hours with the girls. The last few weeks, we've just been working as a team to lead into the game
"It's all come together really nicely and there's been a lot of improvement during that time, so it was great to see them put it all together on Saturday against the Knights.
"We're now going to sit down and review the footage from the weekend and the whole last few months and work closely with the girls and their clubs to make sure we continue to develop them.
"Contracting wise, there'll definitely be some discussions with some of those girls in the next few weeks about their future.
"The really pleasing part is that our goal right from the start was to make sure these girls felt connected to our club here at the Titans and that was a really big point of our Academy.
"I'm confident we've done that and you can see by the weekend that we have got a really strong talent base coming through and we want to keep them here at the Titans."
Murphy also credited the hard working staff who put have put in long hours over the last few months to see this program develop and succeed.
"The last few months wouldn't be as successful without the wonderful support staff who have worked hard to make it happen," she said.
"The dedication and commitment they have to not just making the players better footballers, but most importantly better people makes me immensely proud.
"Led by our coaches Veronica White and Tim McIntyre, they have driven the connection between our playing groups and the club the most and I can't thank them and their team of staff enough for the tireless work they have put in over the last few months."
In the boys matches, the Future Titans were gallant in defeat when facing off against Newcastle in both matches.
Seth Nikotemo led the charge in the Under 19s clash, but it wasn't enough to stop a 28-18 victory against the Knights; meanwhile, the Under 17s also fell short 22-16, but will have a great opportunity to redeem the weekend's result when they take on the Broncos on Saturday at Burleigh.
Read more about the upcoming clash on Titans.com.au this Friday.
