When Kezie Apps watched Ali Brigginshaw assistance the women's Rugby League World Cup trophy successful 2013, she didn't adjacent cognize a women's nationalist broadside existed.
This morning, she and Brigginshaw lifted the aforesaid trophy arsenic co-captains aft the Jillaroos smashed New Zealand 54-4 astatine Old Trafford to triumph their 3rd consecutive World Cup.
"Ali was the 1 who inspired maine to instrumentality up this athletics again, I didn't adjacent cognize it was imaginable until I saw her triumph successful 2013," she said.
READ MORE: Kangaroos triumph World Cup to extremity Samoa fairytale
READ MORE: FIFA president shredded implicit 'repulsive' speech
READ MORE: United reveals 'appropriate steps' amid Ronaldo storm
"I'm lasting connected the shoulders of each those girls who paved the mode for this squad and I can't hold to spot what the adjacent 3 years brings."
Brigginshaw herself was scintillating as ever and had a manus successful astir each of Australia's 10 tries.
Having travel distant from their choky clash successful the radical stages with a 2 constituent triumph implicit their antipodean counterparts, the Jillaroos took conscionable 4 minutes to unfastened the scoring, and from past connected it was one-way traffic.
Jessica Sergis, Isabelle Kelly and Kennedy Cherrington each picked up doubles, portion Julia Robinson, Evania Pelite, Emma Tonegato and Tarryn Aiken - who besides acceptable up 3 others - each got connected the scoresheet.
The Kiwi Ferns' only effort came successful the 63rd infinitesimal done erstwhile they moved rapidly to the near and earned a monolithic overlap for Madison Bartlett to score.
It was the lone blot connected the Jillaroos' different sensational performance.
"That was unbelievable from each the girls, I've ne'er been portion of a radical that tin support similar that," Brigginshaw said.
"I emotion this jersey and we ne'er rested successful defence, we fto them transverse erstwhile and we're inactive kicking ourselves astir that."
Now 33, Brigginshaw said she was acold from acceptable to telephone it quits, and had acceptable her sights firmly connected the adjacent World Cup successful France.
"All the radical that said I was excessively old, I'm inactive present and the adjacent World Cup is lone 3 years away.
"I've conscionable truly enjoyed myself connected this circuit and I don't privation this feeling to stop. I don't privation to enactment a halt connected erstwhile I decorativeness playing. People speech astir my property each the time, it's a recognition to my woman and kids astatine location who enactment maine that I don't deliberation astir it.
"I've acceptable my sights connected France, truthful let's go. We've got tons of halves coming done but let's conscionable spot however the thrust goes.
"It's been a challenging twelvemonth with my signifier but I emotion this jersey and erstwhile I person the enactment of these girls, I cognize they judge successful me."
For a regular dose of the champion of the breaking quality and exclusive contented from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!