Womens Tackle Carnival Sign Up Closing Soon
Group 9 is gearing up for its first ladies 9s tackle carnival which will take place on April 2nd and 3rd at Parramore Park, Wagga Wagga.
Tournament organiser and Group 9 Board Member Gabe Knight said she has received a lot of interest from teams around the region, but is hopeful more teams get on board and register.
"We have had a lot of interest from teams within and out of Group 9 which is great,” Knight said.
"Given nominations do not close until 18 March we haven't seen a lot of official nominations yet, but hoping they come in on Friday."
Ideally, carnival organisers would like at least six teams registered for the open women’s tournament and a minimum of three in the junior divisions - under 15s and under 17s. The aim being for teams to play at least three group games before heading into the finals.
Knight attended the Temora League Tag Carnival which was held on Saturday, and she is hoping the Group 9 tackle carnival can be as successful.
"I was lucky enough to see Temora run their League Tag competition on the weekend with eight teams and it was a really well run day with plenty of game times and competition for each team,” she said.
Next month’s carnival will be the first of its kind organised by Group 9 and Knight is hopeful the tournament lives up to the expectations set by women’s tackle advocates, Albury Thunder.
"Albury Thunder have been the pioneers in this space for our region,” Knight said.
"They have always had a really successful carnival and we are looking to work with them to 'bookend' the year with our carnival in April and theirs in October.
"We hope this pre-season carnival is successful so we can look at making it an annual event.”
The carnival presents a great opportunity for teams to prepare for the upcoming Group 9 season and among many other benefits, it allows players to test themselves against players from outside of their usual group or competition.
Knight also believes the tournament could be a great way to get more women involved with the sport.
"The other major benefit is allowing women to be introduced to the game in a less intimidating format than 13 a side,” she said.
"Nines allows for more space, more running and more ball movement which can limit the amount and intensity of the contact.
"This can be attractive to women who may not have tackled before but would like to start somewhere.
"On top of these benefits there is prize money up for grabs which is always enticing,” Knight said.
Group 9 is keen to create opportunities for women to play rugby league in our region and this carnival marks the first step, with the tournament hopefully becoming an annual fixture on the calendar.
"We know we have a lot of talent in the region and women who want to play the game and we need to be able to provide that opportunity for them,” Knight said.
"With the NRLW taking off over the past couple of years, it has created representation for women in rugby league and also demonstrates to girls in our region that there are pathways to the elite stage if that is what they aspire to do.
"It is our role as administrators in the region to help bring these pathways to these women.
"We are also calling on our trailblazing women in the sport to help us create these pathways and bring others along with them."
For more information on the carnival or to register a team, visit http://group9rl.com.au/