William Taylor Memorial side claims victory in 2025 Toowoomba Warriors women’s carnival
There were emotional scenes at Jack Martin Centre on Saturday as the William Taylor Memorial side claimed a special victory in the women’s Toowoomba Warriors carnival. Check out all the action find out who made our star players list here.
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The Toowoomba Warriors 2025 women’s carnival has been run and won, with the William Taylor Memorial team claiming a special victory that will live long in the memory of the extended Taylor family.
Flo Draper shared how special it was to see a team formed to honour her late brother William Taylor but also going on to win the entire women’s carnival.
“You have no idea what it means,” Draper said.
“To win it was even better and it was also his widow’s 60th birthday which made it even more special and to be there supporting it was just beautiful.”
She was not surprised to see such a strong show of support for Taylor, who was a well-loved member of the rugby league community in St George.
“That’s the sort of person he was, his funeral was one of the biggest funerals I’ve seen in St George,” Draper said.
“He was quiet but very humble, he was so well respected in the community.
“He used to wear the number 10 jersey so we all got jerseys with number 10 on the back.
“On Friday night we had a family barbecue and presented the girls with their jerseys and they had their hearts on their sleeves, it was overwhelming.”
Draper said she believed playing in honour of Taylor spurred the team on as they dominated the carnival.
“The girls went out there and they went out there to win, there was no way anything else was going to happen,” she said.
“It was a team effort, it was like they had played together for years, they were so good.
“They were amazing and obviously there were some highly talented girls in there but they just gelled as a team.
“My two nieces played in the team which was even more special.”
There will also be a William Taylor men’s team competing in the upcoming men’s carnival, with Draper hoping they draw inspiration from their female counterparts.
“It will be a lot harder because there’s a lot more teams but they will give it their best shot,” she said.
“It (a win) would just top it all off.”
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