Viva Las Vegas: NT Titans in Nines comp for the first time

The NT Titans women side has had plenty of success nationally in recent years, now they have the chance to take their talents abroad when they compete in the Las Vegas Nines. Check out who’s in the squad.

Nathaniel Chambers

3 min read

February 7, 2025 - 4:58PM

News Sport Network

Ellie Niki will be part of the squad heading to Las Vegas. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Northern Territory

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The NT Titans women will build on their recent years of success when they head to Las Vegas to compete in what is set to be a highly competitive Las Vegas Nines competition.

The Nines precede the NRL Las Vegas fixtures from February 27-28 and the NT will be right in the mix with a team packed full of Territory talent.

There’s about 16 teams in the tournament coming from New Zealand, the UK, South America, United Stated, Canada and Australia.

The NT Titans women have shone on the national stage in recent years going undefeated in the 2023 championships and excelling in 2024.

Players such as Ellie Niki, Anna Malupo and Latoniya Norris have all received recognition with many Territory bred players earning selections into national setups.

The trip to the Las Vegas is the next step in the journey of growing the sport in the Territory, with seven members of the group under the age of 21.

The NRL approached coach Leon Cleal offering for the NT Titans to nominate for the tournament, an opportunity too good for a Territory side to turn down.

“We only made a decision in late December to do it, so it has been quite rushed to get it all together but it’s great for the Territory,” he said.

“It’s amazing, there’s not too many NT only teams that get to play across the world.

“This is something completely new.

“We’re playing international teams and they get to watch the NRL games as well.

“This is going to be an amazing experience for them.

“It is Nines so it will be a bit different for our girls, but it’s a just reward for the efforts they’ve put in over the past few years.”

North Queensland Cowboys NRLW player Ana Malupo. Picture: North Queensland Cowboys

The squad leave on February 23 and will over until March 4 where they will get to take in the sights and competition of a whole new country.

There’s a mix of talent in the squad including seven players under the age of 21 alongside representative stalwarts such as Ellie Niki and Ana Malupo.

“A couple of the girls have never represented the NT before so it will be great to see the impact they have and the experience for them,” Cleal said.

“The regulars are there too such as Ellie Niki. I’m really looking forward to seeing how she goes.

“We’ll do a little bit of training and some sightseeing while we’re over there.

“I’ve arranged for them to go to a women’s college basketball game and a tour of the facilities so we can get a bit of an introduction to what’s happening over from a college point of view.”

It’s been a rush since that late December decision with sponsors such as Soul Essence on the Bay, Physio North, Paving the Way NT, A.M Cranes & Rigging and Jordan Plumbing coming on board.

Otherwise, the girls have each contributed to the journey themselves eager to be a part of the national competition, with offers of support still being accepted at leoncleal@hotmail.com.

“The girls are funding most of it themselves and we’ve got a couple of sponsors on-board too, but if there’s any assistance people want to provide that would be greatly appreciated,” Cleal said.

“They’re all really excited, they’ve put about $3k each to go, it’s not a cheap event for them, but the fact they wanted to pay it is amazing and shows their dedication.

“There’s not expectations on performance on this first one, it’s a fact finding for us to see what it’s like while being competitive and we hope to make it an annual event.”