TDRL women’s title a pathway pinnacle
BROTHERS lock Lyrech Mara started out in rugby league running around against the boys so she appreciates just how special it is to be playing in this weekend’s TDRL senior women’s grand final.
Women’s footy was revived in Townsville this season as a new sixteam competition began and Brothers and Western Lions are the last two teams left standing for Sunday’s premiership decider at Townsville Sports Reserve.
Mara has been one of the great beneficiaries of that pathway, having also represented the Townsville Blackhawks in the inaugural women’s Foley Shield before earning a Northern Marlins call-up. The 18-year-old had to give up the sport for a few years once she was too old to keep playing juniors alongside the boys, and Mara said she was excited to have a shot at winning a senior women’s trophy in Townsville.
“I used to play with the boys in under-11s. I played there for two years and then had a gap for a couple of years because there was no girls’ footy up here,” she said.
“Having all the women’s teams is really massive for me especially, coming from having not much footy, and now it’s such a big comp.”
Brothers boast a strong squad including Queensland Origin halfback and inaugural Women’s Dally M winner Jenni-sue Hoepper, who Lions centre Shaniah Power said she couldn’t help but “fan girl” over.
But the Lions had it over Brothers during the regular season with a 14-12 win and a 22-22 draw despite finishing lower on the ladder, although both teams agreed they were yet to meet at full strength.
Power said the Lions still felt they were underdogs after finishing fourth on the ladder but she was confident they would leave nothing in the tank with the premiership up for grabs.
“We’ve been the underdogs pretty much the whole time. No one was really expecting us to come back,” she said.
“Brothers are pretty good across the board. They’ve got a really mobile forward pack who are really good on their feet and good with their ball skills, and then they’ve also got a few really fast backs.
“I think we can beat them with fatigue: getting them on the back foot and trying to keep their forwards running all the time.
“After all the hard work that our team’s put in and our coach has put in to training us, it would be awesome to take out the grand final and be the underdogs.”
Brothers are celebrating the club’s 100th anniversary this season with the men’s team also making the grand final, but Mara stressed that they still had a big job to do against the Lions.
The TDRL women’s grand final kicks off at 2pm on Sunday at Townsville Sports Reserve.