Burleigh Bears to compete in Intrust Super Cup women’s division

The new competition will act as a bridge connecting a broken link in the rugby league pathway between local club competitions and State of Origin. The Gold Coast sporting powerhouse are instant favourites.

The Gold Coast’s most dominant sporting team is about to be unleashed on the rest of Queensland as QRL bosses work to launch the first women’s Intrust Super Cup competition.

Burleigh Bears, who have claimed four of the last five Division One women’s rugby league titles, can now add statewide domination to their annual shopping list of trophies to chase.

Burleigh Bears Paige Rogers, Tarnisha Lyons, Selena Tranter and coach Tahnee Norris. Pic by Richard Gosling

Intrust Super Cup clubs across the state have been invited to submit Expressions of Interest to participate in an eight-team competition from 2020 that will include the Bears.

Coach Tahnee Norris said the new competition was a big moment for the code in Queensland.

“This new competition has been a few years in the making but now that it’s come to fruition we’re looking forward to (playing in) it,” she said.

“The Division One competition for Queensland rugby league has been quite strong in recent years but this is going to take it up that extra notch,” she said.

Tahnee Norris with Bears Karina Brown and Tallisha Harden, now Jillaroos. Picture: Supplied

“It’s a big opportunity for girls to be playing at this level because it will spread the love to country areas and give them opportunities to play in the top division, which has been missing for some time.”

The new competition will act as a bridge connecting a broken link in the rugby league pathway between local club competitions and the NRLW and State of Origin.

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Country players who had previously flown under the radar of representative selectors will earn the chance to test themselves against the State’s best and brightest, week in and week out – including the dominant Bears.

The prospect of flying to far-flung fortresses like Cairns and Townsville may be daunting for other teams but not Burleigh, coach Norris said.

Burleigh Bears Paige Rogers, Jasmin Kemp, coach Tahnee Norris, Josina Singapu, Zahara Temara, Tarnisha Lyons. Photo by Richard Gosling

“I think our girls will be ready to handle the professionalism of this new competition.

“At a local level we’ve been doing that for years.

“We employ a Strength and Conditioning coach, we do recovery and video review sessions.

“Whenever we travel to Toowoomba we treat it as an away game experience.

“It’s that next level of professionalism that hopefully goes across the board and hopefully we can see the standards in our game improve because of it.”

Participating in this competition will be challenging for the amateur players, many of whom already balance work or parenting commitments with their football.

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