![Molly Kennedy and her Panorama Platypi are hoping to make it two Western Women's Rugby League premierships in the same year. Picture by Phil Blatch Molly Kennedy and her Panorama Platypi are hoping to make it two Western Women's Rugby League premierships in the same year. Picture by Phil Blatch](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/9ujtS27vHx5Qgdp9jJ35WB/4445d9b4-a088-47f4-9a07-af1cea3db0d0.jpg/r1471_1034_5350_3296_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
YOU gotta know when to hold em', know when to fold 'em - the song might be about a card game but Panorama Platypi prop Molly Kennedy makes it work in rugby league too.
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Last Saturday her crunching tackle - one many said folded her Vipers rival - helped spark a Western Women's Rugby League semi-final success story for the Platypi opens.
Now she's hoping that she can inspire her team-mates on the big stage again this Saturday as they face the Goannas in the grand final.
If they could pull that off it would make it two WWRL premierships in the same year, Kennedy and her Platypi having already claimed a title in 2022 by defeating Woodbridge in the competition rescheduled due to COVID.
"I just go out to play footy and play my best game every game because you never know what is going to happen, I just give it my best," Kennedy said.
"I guess everyone is hungry to win a grand final, we have such a good squad so I think anything is possible, and at the moment we just seem to keep turning it up a notch each weekend.
"Winning over Dubbo would be amazing and so would winning two this year."
The Goannas will host the latest grand final at Wellington after a tense 22-20 semi-final win over Castlereagh, but arguably the biggest talking point of the qualifiers was Kennedy's tackle.
At the time there was 10 points in it and the Vipers were on the attack. After it the Platypi ran away for a commanding 44-6 result.
Kennedy revealed that she initially thought the moment was one that would work against the Platypi. She thought she was going to get sent off.
![Molly Kennedy attracts a host of Brumbies defenders in this run. She's hoping to have the same sort of impact against the Goannas. Picture by Anya Whitelaw Molly Kennedy attracts a host of Brumbies defenders in this run. She's hoping to have the same sort of impact against the Goannas. Picture by Anya Whitelaw](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/9ujtS27vHx5Qgdp9jJ35WB/d8115884-a814-4860-8894-dba274e3f2db.JPG/r208_241_4928_3264_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It felt good, but then when I heard the reaction I thought it must've been high," she said.
"I could hear people in the background so I stood up straight away and thought I was gone. I thought I must've got her high and was going to get sent off.
"I asked Schnitty [Nicole Schneider] 'Was that high?' and she said no and it was just a good tackle.
"After even the water guys, Johnny [Griffiths] and [Mark] Boothy, were like 'Holey moley we've never seen a hit like that'. We certainly turned it on after that."
As well as the tackle, Kennedy scored a pair of tries in that win. It's a performance she's hoping to build on against the Goannas.
The Goannas won the only meeting between the pair this season, posting a 34-22 win in round six.
But in the three games which have followed the Platypi have scored 124 points and conceded just 18.
It's part of the reason Kennedy is backing her side to go back-to-back.
"We definitely have the squad to do it and I think we have a better squad this time around," she said.
"I know we've lost some players like Claudia [McLaren], but we have Teagan [Miller], Tiana [Anderson], Meredith [Jones], Erin [Naden] all those girls, we've gained a lot of talent too and they bring so much speed and agility and they're not afraid to hit someone.
"We just have to play simple, basic, footy I guess, at the end of the day if we don't have the footy we're not going to score.
"I think defence is where we're going to be focussing a lot and targeting those key players the Goannas do have.
"This year hasn't been the most consistent year for me, but being able to get into that final and especially being against Dubbo, because a lot of their girls do play union as well, there's a little bit of a rivalry there, it would be nice to get one over them."
The grand final will kick off at 5pm Saturday at Wellington's Kennard Park.
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