The final round of Group 19’s inaugural women's nines tournament will be staged at Jovanovich Oval in Moree on Saturday, with the first match a top-of-the-table clash between Moree and Armidale-Narwan.
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That noon encounter will be followed Warialda playing Narwan.
Armidale-Narwan and Narwan will then face off, followed by the final game between Moree and Warialda, which is due to start at 1.40pm.
The winner of the three-week round-robin tackle tournament will be determined by ladder points.
The Moree girls are currently undefeated and their coach Lorilie Haines is confident the side can take out top honours.
“If we win both games on Saturday, we’ve won,” she said.
“If we lose to Armidale, it’ll go on for-and-against points.”
Narwan are out of the running for the trophy but their captain Anarla Moran has said she is proud of how they have built their game every week
“Each week the girls have just improved which is amazing to see and we have become more structured,” she said.
“I am very proud of all the hard work the girls have been putting in at training which has benefited us on the field when playing. A few of the girls were a bit nervous before round one because they didn’t know what to expect on the field and we didn’t know how the other teams played but now we do.
“After our first game playing together, we talked and we picked out our faults and weaknesses and we built on them together has a team at training.”
All girls who have been involved in the nines competition have the opportunity to be selected for a Group 19 tackle rep side, which will play off against other groups in in a tournament next year.
From that competition, a Northern Country team will be chosen to play against Southern Country for the chance to be selected in the NSW Country side.
NSW Country will play City.
“This is an exciting opportunity and the beginning of an amazing pathway for all girls interested in playing women’s rugby league,” Moran said.
“It’s exciting that Group 19 will be selecting a Group 19 tackle representative side from this competition because there are definitely a few good talented players among the women’s nines tackle competition who should get recognition for all of there hard work they do playing on the field.
“I believe it should get bigger from here on, especially with all of the interest from all of the participating players involved in this sport, along with the community getting behind it and supporting women’s rugby league also.”
