“State, State, State”
The chant as the Wolfpack roared again
ST Mary’s, Wellington, has retained the title as the toughest and most talented ‘Touchies’ in the west.
‘State, State, State” echoed around the Waratah playing fields in Orange last week after the Year 7-8 Girls St Mary’s Wolf Pack won their grand final and the right to represent western NSW at the NSW Championships in Sydney.
Sports Coordinator Alistaire Thompson has done an incredible job over the last decade, taking one of the smallest schools to the top of the tree in Touch.
“We only had nine players as Covid ripped through the school so the players had to dig deep and play extra minutes. It was a huge day of highpaced Touch in hot conditions not normally seen in Orange,” Alistaire told Dubbo Photo News.
“After Covid, which has impacted all of our communities, and extreme weather conditions it was excellent to see all the kids back out representing their schools and having fun.”
The St Mary’s Wolf Pack moved through their pool with wins over Orange Canobolas High (9-1), St Matthews Mudgee (4-0), Parkes Christian School (10-0), Cobar High School (10-0) and James Sheahan Orange (5-1).
The Pack then moved into the finals, accounting for Mudgee High 7-0 in the quarter final and St Matthews 4-0 in the semi-final to set up a showdown with James Sheahan, Orange, in the grand final.
James Sheahan, one of the largest cohorts in the region, took first blood, scoring first with an excellent set play, but that only woke the visitors. The Wolf Pack hunted the ball downfield and hit back straight away. They kept chomping away, gained control and came out winners by 6-2.
“Only having nine players for the day mixed up our sub-rotations a bit but our senior players took on the challenge displaying excellent leadership and putting their hands up to do the extra work. Every player crossed the line for tries during the carnival and everyone knew their role and what they needed to do for their team,” Alistaire explained.
“Effort and hard work is what it comes down to as we have been preparing for this carnival all year. Our girls have been putting in big hours after school to train. State was the goal and the only way to get there was hard work and the girls have accomplished this with great commitment, leadership and resiliency,” the proud coach added.
“Bring on State!”