NSW Country defeat NSW City in NRL women’s National Championship
THE National Championship was a gruelling three-day contest but proved fruitful for Origin and Premiership coaches alike. Swoop’s weekly column for Big League Magazine.
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THREE games in three days. The National Championship was a brutal contest as the best female players from around the country were on trial for not only State of Origin spots, but also NRL Premiership contracts.
The event held at Southport on the Gold Coast was an overwhelming success according to all there.
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“From the coaches, the players, the states and the club that were there at both events scouting and from all the participants it was really positive,” said NRL senior manager elite women’s program Tiffany Slater.
“It was a great experience of rugby league and really exciting for what the future holds.”
City and Country teams from NSW and Queensland took on Combined Affiliated States and an Australian Defence Force team.
NSW coach Ben Cross and Queensland coach Jason Hetherington had a chance to watch all their players in action on the final day as the two state teams came up against each in the final and third-fourth playoff.
NSW Country took out the Championship in a gritty 16-12 win over their City counterparts, Country co-captain Sam Bremner being named player of the tournament.
Cross was happy to see a NSW side prevail, but said there were also some downsides to the two state teams facing off on the final day.
“The stakes for the (Origin) positions go right up so they’re out there bashing the hell out of each other knowing it’s their final chance,” he said.
“In a way it was terrific and being a New South Welshman getting one of the NSW sides to win the championship was great.
“It also would have been handy to have a NSW team to beat up on the Queensland women as well.
“I didn’t really want New South Welshmen inflicting too many injuries on the NSW players as well but that’s how the final went.”
Unfortunately that’s what he got.
NSW captain Ruan Sims is almost certain to miss Origin with a broken hand, while a handful of other players are under injury clouds. This is added to Cross also being with backs Jasmin Allende and Caitlin Moran who have both done their ACL.
The NRL will undertake a review of the whole weekend in the coming weeks but was pleased with how it all ran and to have the National Championship back on the calendar.
“It was such a great four days of women’s rugby league,” Slater said.
“Really exciting, something the game hasn’t done before with the Talent ID and bringing back the National Championship, it was really exciting, we got great feedback.
“ … There’ll definitely be an extensive review and we’ll get feedback from the bodies that were all involved.”