Jess Elliston never wants to repeat what happened to her Titans NRLW side in 2022.
Winning only one game all season, the Gold Coast bungled out of finals contention and finished with kitchenware instead of silverware after having only featured in the playoffs the season prior.
Part of a stunning rebuild by Karyn Murphy, the 25-year-old has been one of the form props of the competition in her third season for her home region, spurred on by last year's disappointment to help them reach the club's grand final.
"We were never going to let last year happen again," Elliston said.
"We have girls that we want to play for, we have our coaches that we want to play for and we have the club that we want to play for.
"Everyone's put so much effort in for us and it was awesome to get that response and win that game (against the Roosters)."
Match highlights: Roosters v Titans
Creating history as the first team to hold their opposition to nil in a NRLW final against the Roosters - as well as being the only team to keep the Tricolours scoreless all season - the experienced forward has opened up about how her squad has made the miraculous bounce back to reach the big dance, with one of their primary focuses being on having a gritty and determined defensive mindset through a unique theme.
"Our one motto this whole campaign has been Junkyard Dogs. It's just that mentality where when we get in the grind, we just don't stop... we just keep going," Elliston said.
"That definitely showed on the field keeping them zero, which was really nice.
"The game was a bit like kick-tennis... we just kept going and going. I think it was like seven minutes without us stopping with no errors or anything.
"I think that first 12 or so minutes where we just dug deep and just kept going and grinding is what won us the game."
Match: Knights v Titans
Grand Final -
home Team
Knights
1st Position
away Team
Titans
3rd Position
Venue: Accor Stadium, Sydney
Excited to return to training on Wednesday with preparations to be as normal as possible, Elliston is proud to be representing the Coast in their first national grand final and is confident her side can emulate last weekend's showing when they face the Knights.
"It means a lot and there hasn't been something like this for the Gold Coast with any of our national teams. It would just be amazing to bring the trophy home for the region where a lot of us girls grew up playing footy," she said.
"They've all put in the effort to get us there and I'm very confident with our team.
"With our forward pack and our backs... we are very fit and mobile team throughout the whole squad and I think that will be the difference in the game.
"It's going to be a really tough battle. We're up against the likes of Tamika Upton, who's a freakish player and she's definitely going to help control the team, but I think we're going to out-mongrel them and bring JYD into it."
