Academy is an NRLW dream in the making
DRIVING past Stan Williams Park on a Monday evening, you can see the cluster of athletes in the centre of the park.
They’re going through their training drills - with and without the ball - and coaches are clearly directing the show.
It could be any footy team, though the familiar gold and navy colouring synonymous with the North Queensland Cowboys identifies the group as one of the most important in rugby league this year.
As many as 30 Far North Queensland-based women, from Tully in the south, out to Eacham, a large concentration from Cairns and the handful who travel from the Torres Strait, form the northernmost part of the Cowboys Women’s Academy.
Launched last year, the academy is the biggest and most obvious link between the local competition and the NRLW, which the Cowboys hope to enter by 2023.
Their regular sessions at Cairns footy grounds are the building blocks for what’s hoped to be an explosion in women’s rugby league in North Queensland.
But in FNQ, it’s perhaps the most important year. The launch of a full tackle rugby league competition will finally give local women the chance to play the game they love more regularly, exposing them to more competition and enhancing their development as footballers.
From Cairns District Junior Rugby League’s growing participation, more doors have opened for adults to keep playing the game.
The pathway to the state championships is still there, with Cairns and Northern Marlins jerseys highly soughtafter, though the introduction of the North Queensland Gold
Stars to the first QRLW has opened another door.
At the end of that path lie State of Origin berths for the Maroons and Australian Jillaroos honours.
QRL Northern Region assistant manager Rob Moore is well aware of how important this season is for the game.
“The opportunities are here for women now,” Moore said. “The pathways are very clear.
“Females have been asking for it for some time now and it’s time to register with your local clubs and get involved.”
The Cowboys will face the Broncos in a trial game at Barlow Park on Saturday night, but beforehand both clubs will support a girls’ and women’s development day.
Open to under-6s to openaged footballers, the two-hour session will run at Jones Park from 10am.
It is just one of the efforts the CDRL and QRL have made to grow the women’s game, which could eventually lead to growth in that first group of potential Gold Stars players which regularly meets at Stan Williams Park.
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost