First win is just the beginning for Harvey Norman’s women’s team

The joy and relief were palpable during Sunday’s closing match as the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles celebrated their historic first Harvey Norman Women’s NSW Premiership win.

In a true team effort, with every girl giving her heart and soul, the Sea Eagles showed great spirit and secured a well-deserved 24-20 victory over the Newcastle Knights in only their third game together in the women’s open competition, which is one step below the NRLW.

Led by experienced captain Shontelle Stowers, the Sea Eagles led 14-4 at half-time but were defeated in front of a home crowd of Manly supporters to take the two points for the match.

The Sea Eagles lost 18-8 to Parramatta Eels in round one, but drew 14-14 with the Central Coast Roosters last week.

Stowers called the win very special, considering the amount of work that had gone into putting together a team.

“It’s an incredible feeling. The first step was getting a team in Manly, the second was putting that shirt on, and the third step was wearing it on our home ground,” Stowers said.

“It’s a great feeling to win now against a great team like the Knights.

“The support we got during the game was enormous. Our fans really lifted us up.

“You could hear the young lads out there screaming. They don’t care if you’re a man or a woman, they just want Manly to succeed.

“This win means so much. We’ve built connections and to be where we are now after week three is huge.

“I’m very confident about where we can go now that we’ve got that first win.”

Halfback Tayla Montgomery said the support the team has received since they first came together for a season has been incredible.

“It’s great to see how much Manly promotes their girls’ teams, we as players really appreciate that,” she said.

“The turnout for this game was absolutely incredible. It was great to play in front of such a great atmosphere. The people of Northern Beaches really get behind their teams.

“We are a new team and we still have to get going, but we have certainly shown that we are a team that will do very well in this competition.”

The Sea Eagles team features several local players who grew up on the Northern Beaches: Teagan Long, Chelsea Smyth, Pier Pritchard, Maddison Binding, Lili Boyle, Paris Ingegenri, Nicole Backhouse, Aaliyah Paki and Riley McKay.

A further seven players have progressed to the Harvey Norman NSW women’s team after playing for Manly in the U19 Tarsha Gale Cup competition for the past two years.