Shellharbour.

The team has its roots in the West Lions junior rugby league club but has attracted several others.

“I’ve coached most of these kids since under 6s,” coach Geoff Sharpe said yesterday.

“We started playing oztag to keep their skills up over the summer.”

Jack Richards is one of the young players.

He enjoys the sport and is looking forward to playing at the State Cup.

“It’s just like playing footy except there’s no tackling.”

The Tamworth under 12s will play against teams from all over the state in a round robin format and will hopefully play in the finals after that.

It may also pave the way for more teams to make the trip in future.

“The popularity of the junior oztag is building all the time,” Sharpe said.

“If they can zig and zag a bit they will get a good run because it’s hard to pull their tags off.”

Tamworth junior oztag is holding a sign-on day today at the Riverside playing fields.

Its new competition starts next Wednesday and any player who has not been signed up already can register today from 4.30-6pm.