The seven-team competition has received plenty of interest and Magpies captain Ash Moorehead has declared women’s involvement in the sport will continue to flourish.

“It’s a growing sport in the region and across NSW, especially after the success of the Women’s State of Origin and the NRL Women’s Premiership this year,” Moorehead told the Argus.

“It has created a lot more interest because girls see there is a real professional pathway.”

However, Moorehead claims Group 3 need to make a drastic change to improve the pathways for women to achieve an NRL dream.

“There is no Ladies League Tag representative pathway to the top, but there is for rugby league,” Moorehead said.

“They need to scrap the League Tag and start a women’s 13-a-side tackle rugby league in Group 3.

“Now is the time to make the transition to pave the way for women to play league at club level and have a pathway to earn higher representative honours.”

The Women’s Hastings League competition had three sides compete this season, the Magpies, Beechwood and Kendall, but Moorehead believes this number would climb if Group 3 make the change.

There is also more incentive for women to compete in tackle competitions as Country Rugby League recently announced women’s tackle will be included in the 2019 Country Championships.

This gives players who participate in women’s rugby league the opportunity to push for selection into the Country Women’s National Championship side and potentially NRLW representation. 

Moorehead believes the introducing tackle rugby league for women in Group 3 will open doors for future Mid North Coast women rugby league players to reach the highest level.

While Moorehead believes the change is critical for the future, her eyes are still on the upcoming season and her Magpies team are underdogs but she said the side has made large improvements.

“When we first started, most of us hadn’t played rugby league and some hadn’t even played a sport before,” Moorehead said.

“We had limited skills and experience but by the end of the season we became so much better.

“We improved our defence and working together as a unit to achieve our game plan, we had never played together before but we feel more comfortable and confident heading into the 9s.”

The Magpies won’t field a junior team in the competition this season but Moorehead said they definitely will in the future.

“There wasn’t enough time to organise a committee, coaches, sponsorship and everything that goes into putting a footy team on the field,” Moorehead said.

“But there was a lot of interest and there will be more opportunities for the juniors next year.”

Moorehead had plenty of gratitude for the Magpies club, who have taken on additional expenses during their off-season, to allow for the women to take the field.

Moorehead is hopeful the community can rally around the team and the club and show support for the growth of women in sport.

“There is a lot of costs associated with running a footy club and the Magpies are now taking that on board in the off-season,” Moorehead said.

“They have supported our desire to play and I hope the community can show its support too – there’s plenty of sponsorship opportunities and anyone interested only has to reach out.”

The competition will be held over the next six weeks with each team playing two games every Saturday at Wauchope.

The Magpies face off with Kendall and Beechwood this Saturday.

Zac McKiernan is the Magpies coach while Jo-Lee Felton is the manager.

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