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National Schoolgirl Cup provides new NRLW pathway

qrlmedia — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 06:14:53 +0000

National Schoolgirl Cup provides new NRLW pathway

Author : Colleen Edwards NRL Reporter

National Schoolgirl Cup provides new NRLW pathway

Maleala Su’a holding the 2023 National Schoolgirls Cup (Photo – Steve Montgomery)

The revamped National Schoolgirl Cup has kicked off for 2024, with talented young players from across the nation hoping to take the next step in their rugby league development.

One player who has made the most of the playing pathway on offer is Maleala Su’a, who captained Mabel Park to a 26-8 win over The Hills Sports High School at Allianz Stadium to take out the inaugural National Schoolgirls Cup national title last year.

The team had earlier defeated Kirwan State High School 38-0 to take out the Queensland Schoolgirls Cup to earn their opportunity to claim national honours.

It’s been a big 12 months for Su’a who has since joined the top 24 squad for the Gold Coast Titans and also played nine games with the Souths Logan Magpies in the open women’s BMD Premiership.

https://ourfootyteam.blob.core.windows.net/website/2024/06/2023_national_schoolboy_schoolgirls_cup_finals-028.mp4

Earlier this week, the versatile talent who has spent time playing in the forwards and in the halves, was also named in Queensland’s Under 19 State of Origin team.

U19’s State of Origin Team Lists: New South Wales v Queensland

“The National Schoolgirl Cup is a top-level elite competition for the schoolgirls to mirror the schoolboys competition and gives an opportunity for them to play in a higher level competition,” the NRL’s Queensland school participation co-ordinator Jesse Naumann said.

“A lot of these girls are getting signed to NRLW clubs now as well, so it gives them a schoolgirl pathway of progression.

“Maleala, she’s definitely a standout player who has come from Mabel Park and is part of the Titans squad, so shows that there’s a realistic pathway for girls coming through the competition to the NRLW.”

The National Schoolgirls competition is now in its third year, but in 2024, it has been revamped to accommodate a growth in participating teams, with schools divided into three pools by region.

“This year we’ve made a proper structure of the competition and formed the schools into pools and we’ve got more schools involved in the competition,” Naumann said.

“We have more in Central Queensland … and more from North Queensland involved as well.

“It’s only the third year of the Schoolgirl Cup, but it will be the second year of it being (truly) ‘national’.

Last year was our first national final, which was taken out by Mabel Park, who are one of the Pool A teams this year.

They played The Hills Sports High, who were the winners from New South Wales.

“I say it’s the third year of the competition because we did have a schoolgirls competition in 2022, but it only went as far as the Queensland final.

We didn’t get to a national final, so it’s the third year for us, but only the second year including a national final.”

This year, Queensland’s National Schoolgirl Cup Pool A (SEQ) is supported by the Gold Coast Titans who will provide support for the schools and match officials.

To celebrate the start of the competition this year, the Titans held a special launch of Pool A schools at the Titans High Performance Centre during an NRLW training session.

Coach Karyn Murphy and captain Georgia Hale met with the girls who also received a tour of the club’s training facilities.

Unlike the 9-a-side Karyn Murphy Cup which provides its own development goals.

The National Schoolgirls Cup competition is a full 13-a-side contest that gives players the opportunity to experience elite schools rugby league and play at a high standard in a different style of game.

Check out all the action from last years 2023 National Schoolgirl Cup Final

The Hills Sports High School National Schoolgirl Cup final team photo (Photo – Steve Montgomery)

The Queensland participating pools:

Pool A

Mabel Park SHS – current National Schoolgirl Cup champions
Marsden SHS
Ipswich SHS
Keebra Park SHS
St James College – new to the competition in 2024

Pool B

No nominations in 2024, but goal to expand into Brisbane North, Sunshine Coast, Darling Downs and into the South West.

Pool C

Rockhampton Grammar School
Emmaus College, Rockhampton
Shalom Catholic College, Bundaberg
The Cathedral College, Rockhampton

Pool D

Trinity Bay SHS
Kirwan SHS
St Patrick’s College, Mackay
Mackay SHS

National Schoolgirls Cup structure (Queensland)

Five rounds including a semi finals and grand final

Winner of Pool A goes straight to Queensland final on August 29 at Sunshine Coast Stadium.

Winners of Pool C (Central Queensland) and Pool D (North Queensland) play off, with the winner going through to Queensland final to play the Pool A winner.

The Queensland Final winner goes to National Final to play NSW / Victoria winner on September 11 at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast.

The full draw for all Schoolgirls and Schoolboys fixtures can be found at PlayRugbyLeague.

All round games will be live-streamed on NRL.com.

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The post National Schoolgirl Cup provides new NRLW pathway appeared first on OurFootyTeam.

Underdogs Erindale into Grand Final

dailytelegraph — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 20:50:57 +0000

Underdogs Erindale into Grand Final

Author : Katrina May News Corp Sports

Underdogs Erindale into Grand Final

NRL Schoolgirls Cup grand final live stream: Underdogs Erindale take on undefeated Hills Sports High

They’ve already done it once, now Erindale College are ready to bring their unique brand of upsets to the grandest occasion of all. See the NRL Schoolgirls decider LIVE on Wednesday.

Watch a full replay of Bass High v Erindale College.

Australian Schoolgirl Faustina Akeje dives in for a Semi Final try (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

Erindale College will head into the NRL Schoolgirls grand final on Wednesday as the ultimate underdog when they face off against the undefeated Hills Sports High School.

But it is not going to stop the girls from the nation’s capital from believing.

Erindale go forward in the Schoolgirl Cup Semi Final (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

The Canberra-based side barely scraped through to the semifinals, only picking up one win in the pool stage over Matraville Sports High School and narrowly beating out Illawarra Sports on points difference to make the knockout stages.

Erindale go forward in the Schoolgirl Cup Semi Final (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

No one expected Erindale to make it to the grand final, but the team turned it up a notch in the semis, upsetting Bass 12-8 to book their place in Wednesday’s decider.

“I’m so ecstatic for the girls,” Erindale coach Ashley Barnes said of the shock win.

“Obviously we came in as massive underdogs and to turn up and play like that, the girls should be very proud and the school is very proud of them.”

The massive NRL Schoolgirls Cup grand final clash against Hills Sports will be available to stream LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on KommunityTV on Wednesday at 11:30am, ahead of the must-watch Peter Mulholland Cup final between Westfields Sports and Patrician Brothers Blacktown.

WATCH THE PETER MULHOLLAND CUP FINAL LIVE HERE

Erindale College schoolgirls into this years Grand Final (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

Bass High School Schoolgirls Semi Final team photo (Photo : Steve MOontgomery)

NRL Schoolboys/Girls Finals Live Stream Schedule

Wednesday August 30

Campbelltown Stadium

Schoolgirls Cup

11:30am: Hills Sports High School v Erindale College

Peter Mulholland Cup

1pm: Westfields Sports High School v Patrician Brothers, Blacktown

Despite Erindale’s underdog status, coach Barnes said he has complete belief in his team to pull off another upset and take out the title.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we … continue to work,” he said.

“A lot of these girls haven’t been playing rugby league for a long time, some only six months to a year, so it’s still all so new to them.

“We’ll be going home and watching the footage (from the semi-finals), watching Hills and working on the areas we think need improving.”

Hills Sports High have been the standouts of the inaugural NRL Schoolgirls Cup competition, coming through the pool stages undefeated.

Hills Sports boast an undefeated NRL Schoolgirls season in 2023 Picture: Tim Hunter.

The semi-final win over Westfields Sports High showcased the side’s never-say-die attitude, coming back from a 6-4 halftime deficit to take out the match 18-12.

“We dug deep when we were 4-6 down after the first half and we came back, it was just crazy,” Hills co-captain Olivia Vaalele said after the match.

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While they might enter the grand final as the favourites, Vaalele said the side neded to have an honest appraisal of their semi-final performance with several areas that need to be worked on.

“We’ll really need to work on our penalties, just staying onside and keeping everything together,” she said.

“I’m definitely nervous for the grand final, but I think with the support we have we can put in a good performance.”