Familiarity made Saints easier to beat - Anfield

Lindsay Anfield masterminded York Valkyrie's second successive Women's Super League title

St Helens' predictability made them easy to break down, York Valkyrie head coach Lindsay Anfield said after her side's 18-8 win in the Women's Super League Grand Final.

Saints earned home advantage for Sunday's showpiece courtesy of claiming the League Leaders' Shield.

Despite Saints taking the lead by the break, the Valkyrie fought back to become the first side to retain a Women's Super League title.

"I don't think they've had a really tough game since the beginning of August so playing at that intensity with that pressure on them carrying the ball, we knew we had to play that to our advantage," Anfield told BBC Radio York.

"The fact that they've had the same team all year made it very easy to review them because we knew exactly what they were going to do.

"This was to the point that our girls were telling them what they were going to do next."

Despite heavy rain changing the complexion of the match halfway through, York's high kicking game paid dividends as they overwhelmed Saints to win the title and stop their opponents winning a domestic treble.

"It was a gutsy performance. The whole 80 minutes we knew what we had to do and we stuck to our gameplan and here we are, back to back," stand-off Sade Rihari said.

"When the conditions change you've got to be smart and it's all about game management.

"We call it 'beast mode' in defence, so once we kicked off we knew we just had to keep them down there and keep grinding."