RUGBY LEAGUE
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Girls from All Saints College, St Peter’s Campus, Maitland and St Joseph’s Campus, Lochinvar are proving that rugby league isn’t just for boys.
Five teams from the two schools attended a gala day at Maitland Sportsground on Friday as the culmination of a month-long program to help introduce girls to rugby league.
The girls had picked up skills over the previous three Friday’s through the NRL’s Backyard League Program and used the gala day to put what they had learned into action.
NRL development officer Kasey Drummond said the program was an important way of bringing girls into the game.
“We’re lucky that we are really well supported by the schools in the area,” she said.
“Girls’ rugby league is growing exponentially every year and Maitland are at the front of that.”
The Maitland Pickers compete in the Sydney Metro Women’s rugby league competition with three players, Bec Young and her sisters-in-law Emma and Julie, part of the Australian team that won the World Cup in England July.
Drummond said having such high-profile athletes in the area was a huge benefit to women’s rugby league in Maitland.
“They have the women’s Maitland Pickers team and three of those players are in the Australian Jillaroos team so it’s good that local girls can identify with them,” she said.
“We’d love to invite some more schools and teams to participate next year and hopefully we get some girls to go on and play for the Pickers one day.
“Sometimes as kids get better at sport they think they have to move to the big cities to go further but having Maitland playing in the Sydney comp and a few girls representing their country shows them what they can achieve.”