Destiny Brill matching it with the boys training with Marsden SHS Langer Cup rugby league squad
Schoolgirl rugby mighty mite Destiny Brill has brought girl power to Marsden SHS’s Langer Cup build-up, mixing it with hulking male classmates at rugby league training.
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Schoolgirl rugby mighty mite Destiny Brill is mixing it with hulking Marsden SHS classmates at training in the lead-up to the start of the boy’s Langer Cup rugby league competition next month.
Brill, who stands at just 153cm in height, earlier this year became the youngest female to debut for Queensland un Super W rugby.
She has brought some girl power to training, more than matching the Marsden league boys for skill level in non-contact sessions where she has been treated no differently to any other player.
“It was clear from the start of the session that Destiny was treated as an equal among 30-plus male rugby league students,’’ said Marsden SHS Langer Cup coach Jesse Maclean.
“In the game scenarios it was rewarding to see no one took or was given an easy option, regardless of gender.
“It was all ability v ability, not male v female.’’
Brill, a brilliant fly-half prospect who plays club rugby for the Sunnybank Dragons, would not have it any other way.
“I’d rather them go hard,’’ the quietly spoken Brill said.
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Brill said training against the boys was developing her game and complemented her amazing experience earlier in the year playing Super W Rugby.
“At first it (playing for Queensland) was nerve racking, but eventually I got there,’’ Brill said.
Brill, who started playing rugby aged four, was originally from Perth and moved to Brisbane last year.
She fell on her feet at Marsden SHS where her mentor is teacher Cobie-Jane Morgan who, ironically, is the Queensland Super W Rugby halfback.
Cobie-Jane Morgan, a Wallaroo’s veteran, said she hoped by upskilling Brill, it would benefit the Queensland women’s team and the Marsden SHS women’s program.
“By training with the open boys rugby league program, we are hoping that she can bring that back to our open women program,’’ she said.
“That is the sort of flow-on effect that we want.
“I just spent five minutes explaining to the other girls that whatever Destiny is doing with the boys, she is learning for herself but also gathering knowledge for our team.’’
McLean said not only did Brill compete skill wise during non-contact training with the boys, “but it helps build bonds and positive relations between males and female athletes within the school environment’’.
Brill said she enjoyed the atmosphere of the school because it was “family-based’’.