The next Bec Young may have been running around at the Maitland Sportsground as the Maitland Girls Rugby League development program wrapped up on Monday.
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About 50 girls took part in the final event of the five-week program, a friendly gala day to test out skills picked up during the sessions.
The full-contact program involved passing and tackling technique, ball skills and game sense for girls aged 12 to 16.
NRL development officer Kacey Drummond said the program was designed to give the girls a taste of playing rugby league every week.
“Most of the girls there had played in a school team either in primary or high school but just don’t have any avenue to play weekly,” she said.
“From under 6s to 12s they can play with the boys but after that there is nowhere for them to go.”
Drummond said she was impressed with the standard and enthusiasm of the players.
“The quality of the girls was exceptional,” she said.
“Their skill levels were really impressive and their physicality – they just weren’t scared, they got in there and tackled and enjoyed it.”
Drummond said there was plenty of room for girl’s rugby league to grow in Maitland.
“We’ve had quite a bit of interest from Maitland clubs who want to get girls league up and running,” she said.
“There is the possibility this program will run again next term but definitely next year.
“Hopefully we continue to build it up, we’ve got the Maitland Pickers girls’ team here and we had some of the girls pop in during the program as well which was great.”
