Creating the link between U17s and U19s girls wanting to continue to play Rugby League was further strengthened this week at the Lisa Fiaola Cup gala day at Tuggerah’s Central Coast Regional Sporting Complex.
Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues head coach Kylie Hilder, who is also the NSWRL’s Female Pathways Manager, was on hand to see what the talent pool looks like this year.
There were 15 sides playing on Tuesday 27 September under the watchful eye of Hilder with several Sky Blues players helping in a coaching consultant role
“We don’t have winners coming out of the day. It was more about girls turning up and having a game of footy,” Hilder said.
“We’re trying to create that next step in the pathway. We need to fill that void in that younger age group before Tarsha Gale.”
Baxter and Studdon mic'd up | Lisa Fiaola Cup
The Harvey Norman Tasha Gale Cup for U19s has been part of the NSWRL calendar since 2018. Twelve clubs took part in the 2022 season with the Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy beating the Newcastle Knights 12-10 in the grand final.
Hilder said it was her hope that an U17s competition could be set up running in tandem with the U19s.
“We need to accommodate these younger girls and watching them today I can tell you there’s some extremely good talent,” she said.
It was the first Lisa Fiaola Cup gala day in three years – the previous two being cancelled due to COVID-19.
“There were only about five teams back then,” Hilder said. “But the standard and level here is extremely impressive. Looking at some of these girls it looks like they’ve been playing for five years already.”
Another plan on the horizon is starting a Sky Blues Academy, where players from the Lisa Fiaola would be identified and invited to train there.
This week games consisted of 10-minute halves and teams were spread across three pools. Each team played four matches with a total of 360 females taking part in the event.
Teams came from Parramatta Eels, Central Coast Roosters, NRL Victoria, Newcastle Knights, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Wests Tigers, Illawarra Steelers, Penrith Panthers, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Northern Tigers, Northern Rivers, St George Dragons, North Coast Bulldogs, Western Rams, and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
