Leeds Rhinos' Lois Forsell not fazed by Valkyrie's home Grand Final

The reigning champions earned their place in a fifth consecutive Grand Final in dramatic fashion against St Helens, gaining revenge for their Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup defeat after Sophie Robinson scored in golden point extra time to seal a 20-16 victory.

Having already claimed this year’s Women’s Nines title, Forsell’s side will be hoping to lift their second piece of silverware tomorrow afternoon, with the head coach believing that their close Semi Final had laid the perfect foundations for tomorrow’s encounter.

“It was good!” she enthused to the BBC’s A Rugby League of Her Own podcast. “I was proud of the girls and really pleased for them because they just left it all out there in that game.

“I think for both teams it was tough to come away without the win, but the year that our girls have had, it was justifiable. And they’d worked really hard as well.”

It’s been a mixed year for the Rhinos, whom many predicted would run away with Super League proceedings.

England international Georgia Roche departed the Rhinos for the NRLW at the beginning of the season. (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wiree)

They signed the influential Amy Hardcastle from Saints, but lost England international half-back Georgia Roche to NRLW side Newcastle Knights during the opening rounds of the season.

Courtney Winfield-Hill and Fran Goldthorp, among Leeds' 2022 victorious Grand Final team, have also departed for retirement and the NRLW's North Queensland Cowboys respectively.

But despite having lost the Challenge Cup Final 22-8 to Saint Helens on a history-making afternoon at Wembley, the Rhinos head into this afternoon’s Grand Final off the back of a four-match unbeaten run, prompting the head coach to admit that momentum is with her side.

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Forsell explained: “We’ve got momentum with us, and we’ve been big on talking about that all year.

“It was going to take some time - we’ve had a lot of new faces, we’ve had changes that we weren’t sure whether those changes would happen but you’ve got to crack on.

“We got to Round One and your international half-back [Roche] is gone and you’ve got a young girl making her debut. It’s been a steep learning curve, but for some players more so than others.

“Just the group sticking together, it has been tough, but it’s been a great year, and I think that’s why it was so sweet when we got that win [in the Semi Final].”

The Rhinos made history in the first Women’s Challenge Cup Final to be held at Wembley Stadium in August, something Forsell admits has helped them with ‘big game experience’.

“I think having been at Wembley is massive for us. If you went through the amount of girls who haven’t played in a big final for a club like Leeds, it was a lot, so Wembley was new for a lot of people.

“It was tough, you get to finals and say ‘this is what it’s all about’, they’ve had that hype and they’ve had that build-up, they should be more comfortable, but it’s Final rugby, it’s make or break and both teams will be feeling that.

“It’s been massive for us, and that’s something that will help us to be better come Sunday.”

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The Valkyrie are expecting to be backed by a large home crowd, having sold out their entire East Stand allocation, but that’s something that doesn’t faze Forsell and her team.

“We’re not bothered [that it’s at the LNER],” she revealed.

“It’s a great stadium, a great surface, and it’s two teams from Yorkshire, so it’s going to be loud regardless!

“If there’s a large chant of ‘York’, we’ll just think that they’re saying Yorkshire!

“I think that it’s good that it’s here as well because it’s not a massive stadium, so I think that it’s going to sound loud and make it a great occasion.

"I don’t even know if it’ll suit York – I don’t know how they’d feel about playing a Grand Final in their home stadium because it might feel so normal.

“But we’re happy coming here.”