Tarsha Gale Cup dominance rewarded as 12 Steelers earn Country call

Coach Courtney Crawford has also earned the coaching gig after piloting the Steelers to an undefeated season culminating in a 24-12 grand-final win over Newcastle a fortnight ago.

It followed a regular season that saw them claim the minor premiership with a differential of 344-28, with star five-eighth Evie McGrath saying the Steelers dozen will enter Country camp still flying high.

"I don't think it's going down anytime soon either," McGrath said.

"When you've trained so hard for so long, to get away with the result that we wanted, it's just euphoric really.

"The pressure [of the grand final] was like nothing we'd felt before. Everyone loves an underdog story, which we did not have.

"We were on top of the ladder undefeated, so the pressure was on us to win. We knew the Knights girls had a great season as well.

"They're really strong, fit and fast girls who play like us, which was the scariest part. We went in confident we could win, but we were all so nervous."

The nerves proved justified when the Knights crossed first to set a tight contest in motion, with only a Bronte Wilson try off a Kasey-Reh short-ball with seven minutes left sealing the win for Illawarra.

"It was definitely a bit of a surprise with them scoring in under a minute, we were scrambling a bit," McGrath said.

"We just kept to our systems, didn't let anything get to our heads and just played how we knew we could play.

"It was a contest all the way through, so it felt really good towards the end when we knew that we had a win in the bag."

McGrath will reprise her Steelers and Australian Schoolgirls halves partnership with skipper Reh, with Wilson to also don the Country jumper.

They'll be joined by Ella Koster, Charlotte Basham, Indie Bostock, Maria Paseka, Herewaka Pohatu, Mia-Rose Walsh, Hope Millard, Chelsea Savill and Sienna Yeo.

All will take on City at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday week looking to push their claims for a NSW Under 19s jumper.

"It was just the cherry on top of the cake," McGrath said of getting the call.

"For 12 of our Steelers girls, I think it was well deserved. We had a great season, we put in the effort to get there.

"It's just awesome to be recognised to be at that top level. This will be my first time playing for Country and I'm really excited to see how we can go in against City.

"It's going to be one of the hardest games I've ever played, but I'm excited to see where it takes us."

Steelers Lisa Fiaola Cup trio Tori Shipton, Tahlia O'Brien and Halle Barrett were also rewarded for their side's run to the finals with Country jumpers.

With the Illawarra SG Ball side having plied it's trade in the NSW Premiership, Steelers players in the under 18s division are eligible for City, with star centre Hayden Buchanan earning that call.

It will see him take on Illawarra South Coast's Zechariah Taufa, while Mitchell Sleigh has earned selection in the Country Under 16s side.

The City-Country fixtures take place next Saturday and Sunday, with Wollongong's Wade Forrester coaching an Open Men's side featuring Collies wrecking ball Josh Dowel and Thirroul star Steve Marsters.