NSW Waratahs vice-captain Desiree Miller has credited some honest truths in turning around their season as they hunt for a three-peat against the Fijian Drua on Saturday.
The Waratahs are searching for their seventh title following their 33-22 win over the Western Force in Perth, completing a mid-season turnaround.
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The team's dominance over the competition was rattled after back-to-back losses to the Force and Queensland Reds.
Within two weeks, they had lost the same amount of regular season games as they had in the past seven years.
It led to vice-captain Miller and the rest of the leadership group bringing the players together to air out their concerns.
"It sucked to lose one, let alone two, so we got together in the safe space to open up and talk about how we're feeling as a team and what we individually think is missing, no right or wrong answers," Miller told the media.
“We highlighted a few key things, turning the light more onto ourselves and focusing on our strengths and what we want to achieve. We really came together as a group and worked over those two weeks and built into the semi-final really nicely."
The results showed as Miller, showing the scars and a black eye caused by collecting Maya Stewart's elbow during a walk-through, inspired the Waratahs to victory after a dominant opening half of footy.
“I think particularly that first half just felt a little bit like the old us again," she believes.
"We really connected and were really happy with it, but we also acknowledged that we've got a lot more to give. I think it's great that we didn't play our final last week and I think that's putting us in a really nice position for this week.”
It adds another chapter to the Waratahs-Drua rivalry, their third Grand Final meeting in five years.
The visitors are boosted by the elevation of Caitlyn Halse to the starting side, with fellow Wallaroo Piper Simons on the bench.
“I think obviously we faced a lot of adversity through injuries and a couple of key losses, but with that week between our semi-final and those two weeks we used it to build,” Miller added.
“We were really happy with how our semi-final went, but we know that's still not our standard, so we're really excited that we're building and hopefully it turns out to be the footy we've wanted to play all season in this grand final.”
