Hat-trick hero ready for knockout final

Fresh off a hat-trick to secure Bond University’s place in the finals, Caitlyn Costello is raring to go in Sunday’s knockout final against Sunnybank.

The Bull Sharks winger in her first season of QRU Premier Women’s competition has made a smooth transition from the Sevens format and shapes as a key factor at Ballymore.

“It’s exciting to be playing at Ballymore and being exposed to finals footy. It’s such a cool opportunity,” Costello said.

“We started the season really well and then we lost three games towards the backend.

“We really had to show up and perform last week because it was do or die.

“We did that and got ourselves to play our first ever final at Ballymore. It definitely hasn’t been easy. We were playing well at the start of the season, but it was clear it dropped off for a few weeks.

“Hopefully we are back on track to make the final now.”

Costello is the face of a revolutionary style of play in the women’s game, with Bond University utilizing an expansive and exciting brand of rugby.

The Bachelor of Sport Management student is one of a number of new faces in the 15s format, who come from a number of different sporting backgrounds including Sevens and touch football.

“We are not a big side, our game is to play expansive, shift the ball and look to attack on the edges,” she said.

“That hasn’t been seen before in 15s competition, so it’s a new style we are bringing in. It has been working well for us.

“It really works well to what we have as the skills of the girls.

“Other teams have bigger girls, their strength is in the middle of the field where they can roll over people. We don’t have that or the depth in our squad, we just don’t have the bigger girls, so our strength is our speed and skills.

“We are very lucky to have girls come from sevens and touch background, so the ball skills are definitely there, the conditioning and speed is that. It is just understanding the 15s game.

“Our coaching staff have been great.”

The Bond University Women's Rugby team will play Sunnybank at 10am, SUN 18 OCT at Ballymore.