They've enjoyed the ideal opening fortnight, but Steelers coach Alicia-Kate Hawke believes her Tarsha Gale side still have plenty of room for improvement in 2022.
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After beating Canberra in round one, the Steelers proved too strong for the Sharks on Saturday, claiming a 22-4 victory at Collegians Sporting Complex.
Illawarra started in red-hot form and never looked back. Lily Rogan opened the scoring after just four minutes, before tries to Lilli O'Dea, Annabel McDonald and Maddison D Ombrain helped them take an 18-0 lead into the half-time break.
Sienna Morgan then crossed five minutes into the second stanza, before Tayla Curtis mustered a consolation try for Cronulla.
"It's a good start, you can't ask for much more than getting the two wins. Having said that, there's still lots that we'll be looking at to work on in review. We won't get away with giving away penalties and repeat sets for much longer, but I'm really happy that the girls have been able to build their confidence a bit," Hawke said.
"I think the fact that it's quite a short comp, any time you miss a win here or there, it can actually have a big influence on whether you make the finals or not. We've got some big games coming up over the next couple of weeks, so getting those two wins are crucial."
While pleased with her team's performance across the board, Hawke said she was particularly delighted with forward Taimani Kolomaka's efforts on Saturday.
"Taimani is our back rower and she had to slot over into lock, and she ended up playing almost the whole game in the middle of the field," she said.
"She was a big part of our defence and put some really nice shots on the girls and got them driving back, which was one of our focuses. We really wanted to stop their momentum because we know they're a quick, fast team and we didn't want any quick play-the-balls, so she was a big driver in our defence which was great."
The Tarsha Gale Steelers were one of three Illawarra junior representative teams in action at Collies on Saturday, with the club getting two wins from three starts.
Ryan Couchman scored a double while brother Toby also crossed for a try as Illawarra's SG Ball side also made it two from two to start 2022 with a 34-18 win over Victorian Thunderbolts. However, the club's Harold Matthews outfit slumped to successive defeats, falling 26-0 to the Central Coast Roosters.
In other rep footy, the Illawarra South Coast Dragons' Laurie Daley and Andrew Johns Cups sides both prevailed against Macarthur Wests Tigers at Sid Parrish Park on Saturday.
The two sides have both recorded two wins to start the season. The Dragons' Laurie Daley Cup side recorded a 34-8 victory, while the Dragons' Andrew Johns Cup side won 30-16.
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
