It is a strike rate anyone would be proud of and it’s why the Port City Breakers are still celebrating.
This year the mid-north coast Junior Rugby League club in the Port Macquarie area enjoyed its biggest registration of female players to date enabling them to field six teams in Group 3 JRL competitions – four League Tag teams and two Tackle teams.
Two of the teams finished Minor Premiers, while all six have negotiated the finals series to find themselves in their respective Grand Finals.
Group 3 Junior Rugby League President Warren Blissett said while three teams had fallen short at the final hurdle, one has won the 2022 Shield and another two will stage their Grand Finals this weekend.
“Out of six Grand Finals for females, Port City Breakers had six teams make it so that was a significant milestone for the female game in Port Macquarie,” Blissett said.
“Despite the losses, the girls are just all celebrating having got there in the first place, so it’s been all smiles.”
The six Port City Breakers teams are: Under 12s League Tag coached by Buddy King, Under 14s League Tag coached by Jade Arndell (Minor Premiers), Under 16s Sky League Tag coached by Matty Kunningham (Tier 2), Under 16s Navy League Tag coached by Katie Kelly (Tier 1 – Minor Premiers), Under 12s Tackle coached by Bohdi and Josh Buckley, and Under 16s Tackle coached by Lauren Fearnley.
The success of the Breakers continues the success female Rugby League is enjoying in the area, which comprises 11 junior clubs from Gloucester, Old Bar, Forster, Wingham, Taree, Lake Cathie, Wauchope and Port Macquarie.
Combining League Tag and tackle for this area, there are 456 registered female players.
That figure has grown by around 50 players from 2021 but it is still impressive when you consider the disruptions of COVID-19.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what a normalised season figure is but we’ve had significant growth in the past four years,” Blissett said.
“We’ve gone from around 20 girls to where we are now at 450-plus. That’s pretty darn good.
“The challenge is to stabilise that figure and look for further opportunities for growth.”
Blissett felt there were three reasons contributing the upswing in Rugby League.
“Getting the 16 girls tackle off the ground to add to our younger age groups has helped,” he said.
“Then we’ve got the popularity and profile of the NRLW – that’s having an impact.
“Then there’s the growing input from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. They are having a greater interest in the girls’ space.
“The more they progress their game in the senior women’s space, that will help us provide a pathway to that.”
Another initiative Blissett and other officials are working on are two Challenge programs named after NSW Origin players Holli Wheeler, who hails from Old Bar, and current Harvey Norman Sky Blues coach Kylie Hilder, who lives in Forster.
Plans are underway for a Holli Wheeler 14s Challenge and a 16s Kylie Hilder Challenge in February-March, where interested players bring a friend and come and do skills on Mondays and play on Wednesdays for four-to-five weeks.
“Each Wednesday we’ll mix the teams up so you and your friend will get into a different outfit,” he said. “That should promote the game and build our female registrations for the 2023 season.
“We’ve got a huge league tag base for 12s, 14s and 16s girls but this is to build up the tackle side of the game, which is growing.”
