Maroochydore Swans re-enter Sunshine Coast senior women’s rugby league competition

From winning the premiership one year to not fielding a team the next, the Maroochydore Swans women’s side will re-enter the SCGRL competition with a former rival coach at the helm.

Maroochydore Swans Women’s rugby league players Rani Johnson, Laura Barklimore and Jade Shuttlewood. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The Maroochydore Swans have announced their almighty 2024 return to the Sunshine Coast’s senior women’s rugby league competition.

After winning the premiership in 2019, the Swans looked to be a force to be reckoned with but, after the competition was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19, the girls in green have been unable to field a side for the past three seasons.

After some major off-season signings and interest from outside players, the Swans will be led by former Kawana Dolphins premiership winning coach Rob Brough.

Brough, who has coached at a school, club, representative, international and elite level for more than 35 years, returned to local footy in 2022 after his Souths Logan women’s team withdrew from the then 2021 QRLW season.

Brough coached the Kawana women’s team in 2022, when they were defeated by Caloundra in the grand final, before having a year off while he served as a mentor for his close friend and current Gold Coast Titans NRLW head coach Karyn Murphy.

“I really enjoyed chatting and bouncing ideas off Karyn all season so just when I was thinking ‘is that it for my coaching career’ Maroochydore came along,” he said.

“To me it was just a matter of ‘why not’, it’s just coaching footy, it’s nothing about who I’m coaching or the fact that I’ve coached at Kawana for the last 25 odd years.”

The Maroochydore Swans women's rugby league team after winning the 2019 Sunshine Coast title. Picture: Facebook

He said it was important to create a stable platform for future generations.

“The game needs a strong A-grade women’s competition, especially with the new Sunshine Coast Falcons BMD team and the ever growing NRLW competition,” he said.

“At a local level we need to cater for everyone so if I can contribute in some way to help the Sunshine Coast grow and form a stronger women’s competition everyone will benefit down the track.

“Some players play because they just love the game and others play because they want to progress so it’s important that, at a local level, we can cater for everyone.

“At some point you want every club to have a senior women’s team and that pathway for juniors which can only enhance the game.”

Maroochydore Swans Women’s rugby league players Rani Johnson, Laura Barklimore and Jade Shuttlewood. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Maroochydore Swans coaching director Jack Dreger said the squad would consist of a range of different players.

“Along with our junior girls coming through the grades there’s about 15 players that will be new to the club, 10 to 12 that have never played league or are coming across from rugby union and then there’s a solid handful that are returning to the club,” he said.

Among the returning names would be Kawana players Laura Barklimore and Rani Johnson and Caloundra Sharks star Jade Shuttlewood.

“We’re all super excited for the season ahead and really keen to start building a good women’s club culture,” they said.

“We’ve had heaps of girls that are new or from different teams that have said they’re interested to play and have been texting Rob wondering when pre-season starts.”

“Getting Rob on board is really cool so with his experience we should go pretty well and are eager to see what we can achieve in 2024.”

Any players interested are urged to visit the Maroochydore Swans Senior Rugby League Facebook page.