Tarsha Gale Cup: Letitia Taylor takes the reins as Wests Tigers' first female head coach (Season long NSWRL SG Ball, Harold Mattews, Tarsha Gale Cup )
Letitia Taylor has been a trailblazer in women’s rugby league since bursting onto the scene as a 13-year-old — and this season will create another slice of history, this time in the coaches’ box.
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A trailblazer in women’s rugby league, Wests Tigers’ Tarsha Gale Cup assistant coach Letitia Taylor will make club history this season.
Taylor will become the joint venture’s first female head coach and will join Illawarra Steelers Tarsha Gale coach Alicia Hawke as the only two women head coaches in the under-19s competition.
Taylor was due to make her coaching debut against North Sydney Bears in the Tarsha Gale Cup at the weekend, before the games were called off due to the inclement weather.
The 23-year-old Taylor retired from the Harvey Norman Women’s competition three years ago to pull on a blue trainer’s shirt, joining the Tigers’ coaching staff.
But her pioneering role in women’s league began at a grassroots level when she ran on as a 13-year-old halfback in an under-18s women’s competition at St Clair.
“Then I played my first game of Harvey Norman when I was 18, I played a couple of years for St Mary’s but then I decided to stop playing to focus on the coaching side of things,” she said.
Now working as an NRL development officer and assistant coach, Taylor said she loves teaching others about the game and “seeing them develop as players”.
“I’m really passionate about this pathway for the girls,” she said. “Tarsha Gale sets them up really well for the Harvey Norman competition. Whereas when I was playing you went from playing park footy straight into rep and that was a really hard transition.
“But now there’s a really clear path and it starts much younger than Tarsha Gale. At the Tigers, we have the Roar Academy, which is for 14-year-olds all the way to the top level.”
Taylor said while she is nervous for her first game in the top seat, she has been lucky to be mentored by the coaching staff at Wests Tigers, particularly head coach David Fanonuku.
“I’ve been learning off the back of Dave and he’s taught me a lot so hopefully I can bring the girls together like he can,” Taylor said.
“It’ll be very new because I’m used to running out as a blue shirt and delivering his messages but there’ll be a lot more pressure this weekend.
“But I think even just being a female, the girls can relate to me and I can get to know them on a deeper level. I’m really good mates with all the girls and I hope they like me just as much back.”
Fanonuku will step back to the assistant coach role this weekend but is confident the Tigers, who are eighth on the ladder, are in safe hands with Taylor.
“Letitia’s the best person to teach the girls about how sacrifice is necessary to be successful. Because she sacrificed potentially moving up in her playing career to take a coaching opportunity where nothing was promised at the time,” Fanonuku said.
“So we gave her the opportunity to get half her foot in the door and she’s kicked the door down essentially.
“She’s also been in the girls shoes more recently compared to other coaches so players can relate to her a lot more than people like myself.
“I’m looking forward to step back and enjoy being on the field with the girls again, which I haven’t done for four or five years, so it’s going to be different but I have all my trust in Letitia.
“I did jokingly remind her we’ve had two wins and two losses so a win would be nice.”
Fanonuku said his one piece of advice for Taylor heading in to the weekend is to “back yourself”.
“At the end of the day, you are the head coach and if you’re second-guessing yourself then the team is going to see right through that and then they won’t follow you,” he said.
The Tarsha Gale Cup will return this weekend after a rain-affected week, with catch up games from Round 4 scheduled to take place across Sydney.
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