Four Mackay players selected for QLD in Touch Football State of Origin

Four Mackay footy players will look to replicate Queensland’s dominant run in State of Origin when they represent the state at the Touch Football derby.

Katie Geiger, Tina Taylor, Robbie Vella and Melinda Kidd are the Mackay players heading to Coffs Harbour for the State of Origin carnival. Picture: Mackay Touch Association.

Queensland Touch Football selectors must have had a close eye on the success of the Mackay players in the NRL State of Origin, with four Mackay touch stars selected to represent the state in the upcoming Touch Football State of Origin.

This year’s carnival will be held in Blues territory, Coffs Harbour over Friday, August 19 and Saturday August 20.

The quartet of Mackay players are all in different teams with Melinda Kidd in the women’s 35s squad, Katie Geiger the women’s 40s, Tina Taylor the women’s 50s and Robert Vella the men’s 45s.

For Kidd it is her fourth appearance in the biannual event and her first in the 35s division.

Katie Geiger, Tina Taylor, Robert Vella and Melinda Kidd are the Mackay players heading to Coffs Harbour for the State of Origin carnival. Picture: Mackay Touch Association.

“It is definitely something we look forward to, playing with players of more of a higher calibre, and playing a harder and faster game I suppose,” she said.

“I really enjoy the fitness of it, the speed of the game and just really wanting to beat New South Wales.”

With most of the squad in south east Queensland, those in the north will likely only get the one day of training to learn to play with their new teammates.

“It can be difficult but in the same sense there are a lot of people that you have played with before, so you do also have an understanding of what their roles are in the game,” Kidd said.

“That’s another reason I look forward to playing Origin because you get to catch up with those people again.”

She said she had ramped up her fitness work and called on some of her Mackay peers to help her practice what the coaches would ask of them come carnival time.

Kidd’s prior experience for Queensland earned her selection after a flight cancellation denied her the trial opportunity, while others had to travel down to Brisbane to make the team.

A month out from the State of Origin, Kidd’s attention is on making sure she can help beat New South Wales.

“That is definitely the hunger for myself and it is just something that you look forward to, and it only happens every second year,” she said.