Panorama Platypi under 12s go down fighting to Vipers in Western Women's Rugby League grand final

That's how highly Duke regards her young Platypi even though they suffered a 30-18 loss to the Vipers in Saturday's grand final at Wellington.

Though the Vipers, led by a Zahli Milsteed first half hat-trick, rose to the challenge of the decider, the Platypi made them earn the win.

That Duke's side came from conceding nine tries against Vipers six weeks earlier to pushing the Orange based team which had the best attacking record across all WWRL grades shows just how far they'd come.

"It was just amazing, they all improved, there was not a single girl out there who could not come back next year and absolutely annihilate," Duke said.

"Obviously losing isn't the thing I wanted to do in the grand final, but they went out, they played for their age and they played for each other.

"We came close, it was toe-to-toe there in the first half, it was just the last sort of seven minutes that they got away from us.

"You've got to lose some to get better and the girls don't want to lose anymore."

As Duke stated, the first half of Saturday's grand final was close. Though Milsteed continued to show why she is one of the biggest attacking threats in the under 12s, the Platypi hung in.

Tries to Maleah Hall and Sienna Clarke saw the Platypi in touch at 16-10 at the half-time break.

After the break the Platypi got within two of the lead thanks to try from prop Indianna Robinson, but that was as close as they got.

Liliana Shehata did manage to add one more try to the Playtpi's tally - the lock making it 11 for the season - but the Vipers pulled away.

"Vipers, they came out and just wanted it more than we did, but our girls gave it a red hot shot. We just weren't the winners this time," Duke said.

"I think the pressure of the grand final got to them a little bit.

"We muscled it out as well as we could, but I think every time we had the ball the girls thought they needed to score a try instead of just focusing on completing our sets.

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"But we still made the grand final and we still came away with a bit of jewellery.

"I'm not going to lie, there were some tears at the end of it, but after they shook that off they were all so excited looking at their medals, they all had a blast."

One player who came away with more than just a bit of jewellery was Platypi skipper Dakoda Hann.

She was named the league's under 12s best and fairest.

"When Dakoda got it I was so stoked, it was very, very well deserved," Duke said.

"She led our troops very well throughout the season so I wasn't at all surprised she got it."

But it wasn't just inspirational prop Hann that made Duke proud. The way her whole squad committed and improved over the 10 weeks was something the coach enjoyed seeing.

"They all committed, I was lucky to have a minimum of 15 girls at every session so they were all 100 percent committed and they all just became good little buddies throughout the season, which was really nice," the coach said.

"I was very lucky and I'm very proud of the girls.

"Peppa [McWilliam-Gibson] for example, the first time I saw her I thought 'I don't know if she'll stick this out', but by the end of it she was willing to get palmed off for the sake of slowing a player down and so someone else could finish off the tackle.

"I asked her 'Do you think you would've done that in round one?' She said no and I told her 'You're a footy player now, you stood in the way and helped your team out'.

"Ruby Lamb, at the start she had trouble running onto the ball and holding onto it but by the end of it, she was powering onto the ball and breaking the line."

Duke also gave praise to trainer Steve Clarke.

"I really appreciate all his help throughout the season, girls can be tough but he was extremely helpful and explained a lot to the girls," she said.

"He helped me a lot and I was very lucky to have such good support behind me."

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