New England co-coach Luke Stephen highlighted the performance of Paige Leonard as one of the real positives of their NSW Country Championships campaign on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He thought the Tamworth front-rower was "outstanding".
"She was asking a lot of questions with her carries particularly as the [first] day went on," Stephen said.
"Most of these girls they're playing a maximum of 40 minutes a day. Paige played close to 120 and played really well."
Like she does for the Magpies she really drove a lot of their momentum and often attracted multiple defenders.
The Lionesses didn't challenge for the silverware but had some good moments in all of their games.
After losses to eventual champions Hunter (31-0) and Central North (27-5) in their first two games, they finished the first day with a 12-5 win over Far North Coast.
They then had to back up at 8am on Sunday for their play-off game against Mid North Coast. Always a tough timeslot they went down 7-nil, but, Stephen said, "went hard" at their opposition "for the 30 minutes".
That tenacity was something they displayed across the two days, Stephen noting that they "didn't stop trying".
They had to do a lot of defending, but "kept getting up and kept knocking them over time and time again", which he said was "really encouraging" for him and co-coach Mitch Swift.
Probably the only disappointing part of the weekend was their first half against Central North. They always knew Hunter was going to be a tough start.
"It wasn't until the second half against Central North that they started to really click, which is unfortunate, the game was unfortunately lost," Stephen said.
"But we were able to take that momentum into winning a really tough grind against Far North Coast."
Along with Leonard, they were well served by NSW Country Corellas trio Skye Gordon-Briggs, Tahlia Morgan and Clare Harpley. But over the course of the tournament, Stephen said every player "had a good moment that they can then go I can participate at this level".
Away from the on-the-field side of things, one of the most encouraging things from his perspective was the representation across the clubs with all bar Robb having players involved. He was also impressed by the way that the players who were stepping up to the representative environment for the first time performed.
"I think it sets us up nicely," he said.
"It's just about making sure we can try and retain the squad as much as possible."
