AFL Cairns’ women’s teams welcome league outcasts to sport

Rugby league outcasts and growing exposure of the game could lead to bumper women’s and junior AFL Cairns competitions this year.

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Rugby league outcasts and growing exposure of the game could lead to bumper women’s and junior AFL Cairns competitions this year.

As footy prepares for its return to competition in the next few weeks, more women looking for a sport to play are picking up the Sherrin.

Premiers North Cairns have enjoyed a sharp increase of players at Tigers training, while Saints have a list which could very well be the envy of other clubs.

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An AFL Cairns meeting later this week will determine the size of this year’s women’s competition, though major changes aren’t expected.

AFL Queensland North Queensland regional manager Richie Lyons told News Corp last week that AFLQ had experienced a spike in registration numbers in regional areas where the local rugby league competition had cancelled its season. Even in strong regional Queensland Aussie rules hubs like Cairns, AFLQ experienced “a big spike”, particularly among women and juniors, Lyons said.

“Those regions where rugby league pulled the pin early, we’ve noticed an uptick in registrations,” he said.

“Cairns is one region that has noticed a big spike in women’s participants because they pulled the pin on their women’s (rugby league) competition reasonably early.”

Cairns District Rugby League is the only association in North Queensland to have cancelled its senior competitions, and with this supposed to be the year a full tackle women’s rugby league competition returned, it’s left many athletes looking for a home.

Originally published as AFL Cairns’ women’s teams welcome league outcasts to sport