In a landmark day for women’s rugby league in the ACT, the Canberra Region Rugby League today announced the first ever Canberra Raiders women’s team, which will compete in the 2017 Tarsha Gale Cup.

The Tarsha Gale Cup is a nine a side tournament for women at the under 18 level and will coincide with the Harold Matthews Cup under 16’s and SG Ball Cup under 18’s men’s seasons from 2017 in the NSW rugby league.

The CRRL will contest an open tryout for players wishing to play in the competition at Northbourne Oval next Tuesday (December 13), as they look to select the team who will represent the Raiders.

General Manager of Canberra Region and Community Rugby League Mark Vergano said the introduction of a Canberra Raiders women’s team was a huge boost for the game in the region, with females having the opportunity to pull on the Raiders jersey for the first time.

“It’s wonderful to see the NSW rugby league embracing the women’s game and giving young women the opportunity to represent the Raiders,” Vergano said. “For many years the pathway for women wanting to take the next step in their rugby league journey had been a tough one, but with competitions like this we will hopefully see women from Canberra playing the game they love and aspiring to be the next Jillaroo.”

Vergano said he’s encouraging as many eligible participants to register for the trial and for all women to make sure they contact their local clubs about the prospect of playing rugby league in 2017.

“We want to see as many women as possible be a part of the trial next week, which will give us a broad array of talent to select a team from,” he said. “For those women and girls who fall outside the age level of this competition we ask you to contact your local club or the CRRL about registering to play in the various competitions we have in place for women of all ages in 2017.”

One of the young aspirants who will try out for the team on Tuesday night is Zoe Podmore and she said she’s excited to have the chance to maybe pull on the famous Raiders colours.

“This is an awesome opportunity for women who play rugby league locally and to maybe have the chance to play for the Raiders would be a dream come true,” Zoe Podmore said. “It’s also great to see the women’s game starting to get bigger and bigger and one day hopefully we’ll be able to play professionally as well.”

Details for the try outs are below:

Tarsha Gale 9's U18's TRIAL

Date: Tuesday 13 December 2016

Time: 5pm-7pm

Venue: Northbourne Oval, enter via car park off Donaldson Street

Registration: Please note participants are required to pre-register for the event

CLICK HERE to pre-register

To be eligible to trial you must be born in 1999 or 2000.

Equipment to bring: Runners, footy boots, mouthguard, headgear (if worn)

Please note it is advisable that all players have private health cover with extras. There are no costs associated with this trial.

IMAGE: Raiders Tarsha Gale Cup Hopefuls Alannah Fraser and Zoe Podmore at Raiders HQ today