Growing rugby union for women in the region

A FOCUS on breaking down barriers and making rugby union more accessible for women has seen the Far North Coast Dolphins team shine at the NSW Country titles.

The women’s game is growing on the Far North Coast with Barker Ryan Stewart coming on board as the naming rights sponsor for the local competition and representative team.

A group of local sponsors helped coach Brett McLaren ramp up the program this year with a squad of 24 attending the country titles at Tamworth, where the team finished fourth.

“We chased some extra sponsorship dollars this year and really wanted to do something different for the women,” McLaren said.

“Instead of sporadic training sessions we threw everything into a weekend camp at Lake Ainsworth and the improvements showed on the paddock.

“At the camp I offered to run an extra 5.30am gym session for a few of the players and the entire squad turned up, that showed how committed they were.

“We were a very young team and four of the players who have been part of junior representative sides stepped up from under-18s and they were outstanding.”

There has been a core group of players in the team with Lismore’s Emily Cox and Zali Wheeler among the standouts.

Wheeler can play multiple positions in the forward pack and has represented the NSW Country team

“The rise in competition was dramatic this year, we went away 24 players which was up from 13 last year,” McLaren said.

“I know a few of the players were on the radar for country selection and the rugby awareness and what someone like Emily Cox has given to this team has been invaluable.”

McLaren hopes the game will continue to grow with seven women’s teams playing a weekly rugby 10s competition this season.

He is coaching the NSW country under-18s team this season and hopes the women will start playing a 15-a-side competition locally in the coming years.

“I don’t think we’re too far away from a 15-player competition,” McLaren said.

“We’ve got a dozen or so 15-year-olds coming though and hopefully we can get them into the senior ranks.”

McLaren said the 2025 representative program would not have been possible without additional support from Cherry Street Sports Club, Casino Golf Club and Edmunds Conveyancing.