Cairns’ crucial role in future women’s Cowboys team
A sustainable women’s rugby league competition in Cairns is imperative for the Cowboys to achieve their NRLW dream of fielding a team comprised solely of North Queensland footballers.
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A SUSTAINABLE women’s rugby league competition in Cairns is imperative for the Cowboys to achieve their NRLW dream of fielding a team comprised solely of North Queensland footballers.
A new statewide women’s rugby league competition is set to launch next year, with North Queensland’s best footballers likely to have an opportunity to represent their home region in the inaugural season.
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The Queensland Rugby League previously outlined its hope of a competition representative of the state, and a team incorporating the best talent from Cairns, Townsville and Mackay will likely take the field next year.
That experience will ultimately pave the way for the Cowboys to have a team in the NRLW by 2023.
Cairns has not had a women’s tackle rugby league competition for almost a decade, but that is set to change next year with the introduction of what officials hope is a five-team competition.
The plan’s future is in the hands of local clubs.
A tackle competition would be followed by a League Tag component, with a focus on sustainable growth in the next few years.
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A League Touch competition provided the perfect platform for Far North women to engage with the game, while the City-Country rep games gave players a taste of the full product.
Cowboys Elite Pathways coach Ben Jeffries, who is also the Queensland under-18 Girls lead coach, told the Cairns Post a sustainable competition was vital to the long-term success of a Cowboys entity in the NRLW.
“It’s imperative for this region to go where it wants to go,” Jeffries said.
“It’s important Cairns has a sustainable competition which would then strengthen the whole region.”
Combined with a strong six-team competition in Townsville and a growing base of players in Mackay, a sustainable Cairns comp could allow the Cowboys to field a team comprised solely of players from North Queensland.
“We hope that building through the statewide competition, we won’t need to import players,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries, a long-term coach who played a handful of games for the Northern Pride in 2014-15, said it would give players like Stephanie Mooka a chance to enhance their skills.
Mooka is one of the brightest league talents from Far North Queensland, but her involvement in the format was limited to indigenous carnivals and representative games.
She captained South Cairns in the AFL Cairns Women’s competition, and has also played rugby union over the years to get her fix of footy.
This year, she starred for Cairns and the Northern Marlins, then went on to play State of Origin for Queensland and earned a NRLW contract at St George-Illawarra.
“That success showcases her natural ability, but she’s done all of that on her own accord,” Jeffries said.
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The Cowboys decided to focus on developing women’s rugby league at the grassroots when the NRLW launched in 2018, but have planned to have a team ready to compete within the next five years.
Earlier this year, the NRL club launched a women’s academy open to players aged over 15 which aims to “improve their core skills through elite level coaching and best practice training techniques”.
This week, 21 members of the academy were named as part of the QRL’s upcoming under 18s performance program.
Originally published as Cairns’ crucial role in future women’s Cowboys team
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