SCGRL: Leading open women’s coaches name key players, 2024 finals aims

The Sunshine Coast women’s rugby league season has flown by and with just two rounds remaining until finals we uncover our finals predictions, leading players and top coach takeaways.

Leading 2024 SCGRL senior women's teams Kawana and Maroochydore. Pictures: Tegan Schefe Photography

After 13 rounds of entertaining rugby league across the Sunshine Coast, we’ve crossed the halfway point of the 2024 senior women’s season.

With just two rounds in the regular season remaining, teams are still battling it out for their place in the finals.

In a rollercoaster season of unpredictable results, we’ve spoken to leading head coaches Geoff Wheeler (Kawana) and Rob Brough (Maroochydore) to gauge their side’s strengths, weaknesses, standout players and finals aims.

Read below to see how both sides are tracking and our predictions for the 2024 premiership.

All competition coaches were contacted for comment before the time of publishing.

KAWANA DOLPHINS

Current position: 1st (12 wins, 1 loss, 0 draws)

Head Coach: Geoff Wheeler

Key Players: “One player that only arrived at our club a few weeks ago and has been quite good is Felicity Powdrell. She’s got a lot of experience and has slotted into our team and our forward pack really well. Courtney Lockwood who came across from Beerwah has been great at steering our team around, Ashtyn Robb has been really solid in every position she’s been put in all year and Malia Ting has been great obviously continuing her form across from the 9’s carnival at the start of the season. There are a few names that spring to mind but it honestly has been a great team effort and different players shine every week.”

Kawana Dolphins women's player Malia Ting in action. Picture: Infamous Photography/R.J.JARMAN

Biggest Positive: “As a team I’m really proud of how the girls have gelled together. It was almost a new dynamic after winning it last year and I thought it would take a lot more time for us to get our systems in place but defensively we’ve only leaked 126 points which is a massive tick. Our start to the season was also really strong as we had a fair chunk of players representing the Falcons BMD side but we still held strong and had a number of girls step up and lead the team around in their absence.”

What needs improvement: “I want to get our attack really spot on. Even though we’ve scored plenty of points it hasn’t gelled completely yet so when it does it’ll be very exciting to watch.”

MAROOCHYDORE SWANS

Current position: 2nd (10 wins, 3 losses, 0 draws)

Head Coach: Rob Brough

Key Players: “Clearly Georgia Bartlett has been outstanding. She’s come out of touch footy, never played rugby league before and slotted in at fullback before earning selection in her first ever representative side. I think we’ve got a lot of players at a very similar level so our performances are very much team based. That’s been really important for us and hopefully it can continue.”

Maroochydore Swans female player Georgia Bartlett in action. Picture: Tegan Schefe Photography.

Biggest Positive: “Ours would be our young kids and the players coming out of the under-19s. Seeing them progress every week has been great and also the players that wanted to challenge themselves despite never even playing rugby league before. They’ve embraced the game and the culture extremely well so our progression since we started in January is as much as I could’ve asked to be honest. We’ve trained really well, had good numbers, we’re not a big team but the girls battle above their weight and experience levels extremely well.”

What needs improvement: “The toughest thing with us is we don’t get any BMD players back. Other sides get a big boost but since we’re a new team we obviously didn’t have anyone involved with the Falcons.”

PREDICTION

Kawana sit two wins ahead of Maroochydore on the current ladder who sit a further two wins ahead of Caboolture followed by Caloundra, Noosa and Beerwah.

Kawana will play their final two regular season matches away from home with all eyes on round 15 when the Swans host the Dolphins.

Caboolture still remain the next best team and know what it takes in the finals with their gritty, tough style of play.

The snakes could well and truly cause some upsets in the finals to sneak through to the big dance while Kawana are in the current box seat to punch their ticket into the grand final on August 3.

After everything Maroochydore have achieved already this season, their stocks continue to rise and if they can make it all the way to the final, are a real shot at being crowned premiers in their returning season.

For me, it’s easy to pick them as the favourites but Kawana still remain the team to beat as they’ve looked the best team all season and are only continuing to grow stronger with their influx of BMD players.

Originally published as SCGRL: Leading open women’s coaches name key players, 2024 finals aims