FTA arrive at the Premier League with momentum and very little baggage.
That’s dangerous.
They were tipped to get through Sydney, and by Sunday afternoon they’d done enough to punch a Gold Coast ticket and announce themselves as more than just a well-branded outfit with good energy on the hill.
They were drilled. Calm. And when it mattered, clinical.
Day One in Sydney wasn’t perfect. Campbelltown Saints were sharper and more consistent, and FTA had a wobble that forced them to reset. But Day Two is where teams either disappear or grow up quickly. FTA chose the second option.
They steadied against Bourke Warriors in the quarters, surviving one of the tighter games of the weekend, then shut the door on the Southern Steelers in the semis. No drama. No panic. Just structure and execution.
Sam Curtain was the headline. Tournament top try scorer. Always available. Always moving. The kind of player Nines tournaments quietly orbit once fatigue sets in. But he wasn’t alone. This was a team that looked coached, not collected. Roles were clear. Sets were completed. Mistakes didn’t stack.
That’s why they’re dangerous.
They don’t arrive with the weight of expectation. They don’t have scars from Premier League Sundays yet. What they do have is confidence built the hard way, through knockout footy, against teams that knew exactly what was at stake.
But the step up is real.
The Premier League doesn’t offer the soft edges Sydney and Brisbane sometimes do. There are no easybeats. No games you can use to feel your way into the weekend. Depth gets tested immediately. Rotations matter. Recovery matters. Sunday punishes anything left unresolved on Saturday.
FTA haven’t lived that yet.
The Sydney run will give them belief. The Premier League will demand proof.
If they adapt quickly, they won’t be a novelty for long. If they don’t, the learning curve will arrive fast and without sympathy.
Either way, they won’t be ignored.
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