Steelers ready to empty the finals tank in Bulldogs showdown

The addition of the Illawarra and St George Dragons this year saw 11 teams vying for just four finals spots come last week's final round, with the Steelers punching their finals ticket with a big win over the Tigers.

It secured a taste of finals action in what is the club's long-awaited maiden season in the premier women's competition, with the ruthless finals chop putting Alicia-Kate Hawke's side within two wins of the coveted silverware.

Read more: Steelers seal finals berth with first-half blitz of Tigers

Having climbed to second spot on the ladder, the competition newbies take on a highly-fancied Bulldogs outfit in a grand final qualifier at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday. While there's no champagne corks in sight, Hawke says the achievement isn't lost on her fledgling side.

"From November to now, it was obviously a really big goal of ours to show Illawarra is in this competition to be true competitors," Hawke said.

"Once we started out we were pretty confident, then seeing how tight and close the competition was getting, there were some nerves there thinking 'oh no those few times we lapsed may come back to bite us in the backside here'.

"To have been able to seal that on the weekend, get into the finals and achieve that first goal is amazing because that's now step one cemented. It's an even harder finals [to reach] than most competitions in that you're only talking about a top four.

"Even after our last game, there was still only two points difference from one to six [on ladder]. We saw three different variations of teams knock each other out on that final day as far as who was coming into fourth spot.

"The girls understand that there's still very, very big tasks ahead, and we've got some David and Goliath style games up ahead of us, but there's a lot of belief there."

The Steelers already boast a victory over Canterbury in their only previous meeting this year, while they've also knocked off Mounties who stormed into fourth spot with a big win over the Dogs last week. They're victories that feed a belief that a premiership is within reach, regardless of the opposition.

"I think we've definitely proven that we are capable," Hawke said.

"It's probably fair to say that the Bears outdid us [in round seven], but aside from that, any time we've dropped points or dropped games, it's more been a reflection on how we've played.

"I think the big thing we've pointed out through all of our games is it's not so much about our opposition. We know there's still more footy in us, we still haven't quite put together a full game of consistent footy.

"If we can do that, there shouldn't be anything that stops us. If we play good footy, we're in with a chance for a win against anyone, it's just a matter of us being really aware of what's to come. We know that finals football is a completely different beast.

"We want to get ourselves into that big dance, but we have a really big battle against a team that we've known since November was going to be one of the top contenders in the competition."

Read more: Soward unfazed by Dragons growing list of high-profile departures

The Steelers are nudging full strength at the right time of the season, but star forward Kezie Apps - who's made just one appearance this season - remains a wait-and-see prospect as she nurses a leg injury.

"We're still waiting on a final fitness test on her," Hawke said.

"We probably won't know until quite late this week. We obviously know what she brings but she's the kind of person that brings a lot in just being around the group.

"We'll see how she goes on the first bit of her fitness testing on Wednesday and if we're able to get her out there, that'll be awesome. If not, we know that she'll still be in and around the group pushing them along."

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