Sevens champion looks to strike gold in grand final

Former Black Fern Gayle Broughton has a shot at adding a NRL women’s rugby league premiership title to her Tokyo Olympic Games gold medal.

The 26-year-old from Taranaki will play fullback for the Parramatta Eels in the NRLW grand final against the Newcastle Knights in Sydney tomorrow.

Broughton is joined in the Eels squad by New Zealand-born Cassey Tohu-Hiku, Ashleigh Quinlan and Vanessa Foliaki while the Knights will field Kiwi Ferns wing Kiana Takairangi.

ANRLW winners medal would cap a dream first season in rugby league for Broughton, who stunned New Zealand rugby by quitting the Black Ferns in March to move to Sydney.

Announcing her decision in an emotional Instagram Post, Broughton said: ‘‘After a very special 10 years with the Black Ferns achieving things I didn’t even dream possible as a young player, I’ve decided to step away from this beautiful game.’’

Broughton scored 315 points in 112 World Sevens series game and won six world titles along with gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Tokyo Olympics.

She was still at the peak of her powers but decided to step away from the Black Ferns, giving up the prospect of another Commonwealth Games medal.

After shifting to Sydney Broughton soon linked with the Mounties club in the New South Wales premiership and was signed by the Eels in June.

Three of her former Black Ferns team-mates – Sarah Hirini, Shiray Kaka and Tenika Willison – jetted to Sydney to support Broughton in her NRLW debut in August. They carried a banner saying: Float like a butterfly sting like a Gee (Broughton’s nickname).

Broughton was a NRLW everpresent at fullback for the Eels, playing all five round-robin games. She scored in the second round defeat to the St George Illawarra Dragons.

The Hāwera-born flyer impressed at fullback, carving off 181m and making six tackle breaks, in the Eels’ 24-10 semifinal win over the Roosters last weekend.

Broughton has averaged 131m this season and made 31 tackle breaks and one line break.

Quinlan, 28, the Eels’ standoff, grabbed her first try of the season against the Roosters.

Born in New Zealand, she went to Hills Sports High School in Sydney, but the ex-Roosters half still has strong Kiwi allegiances, citing exSilver Ferns netballer Temepara George as her favourite athlete.

Quinlan is a key playmaker for the Eels, averaging 63 running metres per game.

Tohu-Hiku won her first start on the wing in round four and while she