Moree Boars finished Saturday’s inaugural Group 4 Ladies Tackle Gala Day at Tamworth’s Scully Park as the only unbeaten side.
The Boars won all three games, overcoming a combined Gunnedah/Kootingal side 24-12 in their first game and followed up with 12-nil wins over North Tamworth and Dungowan Cowgirls.
A second gala day will be held at Boggabri’s Jubilee Oval on Saturday, November 2.
Group 4 chairman, Clarence “Lad” Jones, was delighted with Saturday’s initial Gala Day and believes it will be the forerunner to a new ladies tackle competition.
“We have 136 girls registered for this Gala Day,” Lad Jones said at Saturday’s impressive opening day.”
“There’s been some good football played already and it seems everyone (clubs and players) are buying into it.”
“We have a promising future but that’s to be talked about. At the moment we just want everyone to enjoy it.”
“We’ve got to give a lot of credit to Cody as well,” he said of NSW Northern Region League and Club Co-Ordinator Cody Tickle.
Tickle, also co-coach of the Werris Creek Magpies, said there were some outstanding performers on Day 1 of the Gala Day.
Kootingal’s Nikki Berryman led the way with six tries while Boggabri’s middle forward, Kate Brown, also impressed touching down five times.
“Dayna (Porter) also scored five tries as well and Gunnedah’s Piper Rankmore also scored four. They (Rankmore and Berryman) both played Country last year.
“Moree also have a number of girls have played in the rugby knockouts.”
Moree coach Michael Watton says the Moree Boars had trained so well in the five or so weeks lead up and thought they improved every game.
“We had some really good training sessions over the four or five weeks in the lead up,” he said.
“The girls took it all on board, the systems we put in place. They had a great day, and I thought they were definitely the team of the day.”
“They were also very courageous. We only took one sub and had one girl break her ankle in the very first game.”
“So, it was a massive effort to go through unbeaten without any subs.”
He thought Tara Newman and Simone Blacklock were outstanding.
“They were fantastic in the middle,” he said.
“Gabby Suckling was great at lock.”
The ball-playing number 13 was super impressive in a team chockful of outstanding players.
The wins have elevated interest in the second Gala Day in not only Moree but around the Group.
“It was a great day,” Watton said.
“The appetite for ladies tackle was rich, a lot of people rocked up to watch as well.”
G4 Chairman Lad Jones hopes the two Gala Days will help launch a ladies tackle competition next season.
“We want to make sure every club has a team,” he said.
“I think we can only get better,” he said of last Saturday’s initial Gala Day.
“But there are still a lot of conversations to be had. The Ladies League Tag has also been good to us and we will want to keep that going.”
Cody Tickle says the healthy crowd that turned out to watch the first Gala Day and the modified rules will make Saturday week’s second Gala Day at Boggabri even more interesting.
“It definitely showed there is an appetite there,” he added.
GROUP 4 GALA DAY RESULTS
Scully Park, Tamworth – Saturday, October 19.
NORTH TAMWORTH 20 d DUNGOWAN COWGIRLS 8.
MOREE BOARS 24 d GUNNEDAH/KOOTINGAL 12.
BOGGABRI 12 d WERRIS CREEK 8.
MOREE BOARS 12 d NORTH TAMWORTH 0.
GUNNEDAH/KOOTINGAL 12 d WEE WAA 4.
NORTH TAMWORTH 12 drew with BOGGABRI 12.
WEE WAA 16 d WERRIS CREEK 12.
MOREE BOARS 12 d DUNGOWAN COWGIRLS 0.
WERRIS CREEK 16 drew with GUNNEDAH/KOOTINGAL 16.
WEE WAA 12 d NORTH TAMWORTH 8.
DUNGOWAN COWGIRLS 16 d BOGGABRI 8.
LEADING TRYSCORERS
6 Nikki Berryman (Kootingal Moonbi).
5 Kate Brown (Boggabri), Dayna Porter (Werris Creek), Alyssa Davis (North Tamworth).
4 Amelie Johnson (Wee Waa), Piper Rankmore (Gunnedah), April Smith (Boggabri).
3 Imogen Smith (Werris Creek), Kaitlyn Armitage (Wee Waa).
2 Amy Barraclough, Makenna Barnett-Suey (North Tamworth), Britnee Jerrard, Tara Newman, Shonnalea Smith, Gabrielle Widders (Moree Boars), 2 Melanie Young (Dungowan).
1 Rachel Dodds, Kiarra Dixon, Kahtarni Jarret, Makia Johnson (Dungowan), Claudia Kenniff, Tshinta Knox (North Tamworth), Sienna Mackay (Boggabri), Samantha Marchant, Emily Smolders (Wee Waa), Simone Blacklock, Maddie Martin, Leila Murray (Moree Boars), Lacie Quigley (Werris Creek).
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