Apprentice takes on master in Cairns District Rugby League women’s grand final
IT WILL be a classic master-versus-apprentice battle in Saturday’s Cairns District Rugby League grand final at Barlow Park.
Minor premiers Cairns Kangaroos meet Ivanhoe Maidens in the decider of the relaunched women’s tackle competition as a curtain-raiser to the Northern Pride’s clash against Tweed Seagulls.
The match-up between the two sides shapes as an intriguing one, with Kangaroos captain Kaiyla Ward set to lock horns with one of her mentors, Maidens skipper Jo Kerr.
Ward played for the Northern Pride in the inaugural Queensland Rugby League Under-19s Women’s competition earlier this year, with Kerr in the role of assistant coach.
Their battle is representative of the future of women’s rugby league in Far North Queensland, and those who have helped lay the platform for young girls in the region.
In fact, that’s what the entire season has been about, according to Kerr.
“There’s a mix of experience from 10 years ago, where the old girls are pulling their boots back on and are pretty keen to either play or be involved through coaching, and then you’ve got a mix of some really young, fresh faces,” she said.
“It’s been really important to have the women’s competition up here just because we’ve got so many young girls coming up through the ranks and they’ve got something now to play for.”
The teams will be competing for the Ailsa-Rani Satini Memorial Shield, named in honour of the Innisfail player who died in a multi-vehicle crash in July.
The 2021 CDRL Women’s competition was the first women’s tackle rugby league competition in the Far North for almost a decade.