WERRIS Creek swooped their way to third in the Shield division of Saturday’s Wests Ladies League Tag Knockout.
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A tough 7-6 first up loss to Walcha put the Magpies out of contention for the overall Knockout honours, the Rams remaining in the main draw by virtue of being the first try-scorers.
Under the knockout rules the first try is worth five points rather than the regular four.
The Magpies then edged out local rivals Quirindi 8-7 before going down to eventual Shield winners Uralla 8-7 in what was effectively a semi-final.
“We’ve still got some work to do but there are signs of improvement,” coach Richie Porter. One of the club’s favourite sons, Porter played 17 years in first grade over a career spanning around 30 years.
This year is his first coaching the ladies after coaching the men back in the ’90s, and running the water for them last year, and he said things are coming along pretty well.
“We’ve got plenty of numbers,” he said.
“We’ve been getting plenty at training, around about 20 girls.”
So far they’ve just been doing the one night, but this week moved to two - Tuesdays and Thursdays as they ramp up their preparations for the season.
Last year they finished just outside the finals. Porter is hoping for top four this year.
Having watched them in previous seasons, one thing he has worked on them with is better positional play, and an improved kicking game.
“I’ve brought a few different moves in this year,” he said.
He was happy to see them pull out some of those on Saturday.
“Our tagging has been pretty good,” he said before the game against the Tigers.
“And when they’ve put some moves on it’s starting to click.”
Saturday was their second hit-out.
They played Coolah a few weeks ago.
They’ll have another run this Saturday as part of a big footy double header at Gunnedah Rugby Park with the Bulldogs ladies and men playing Werris Creek and the union boys taking on Barraba.