NT 14S REPORT – NYC
This year’s NYC saw the NT taking only one team in the 14s girls division. This group of girls have been representing the NT for touch for 3 years, with all of them playing in their respective local competitions. They had train hard for 3 months leading into NYC, even in school holidays. This year’s team consisted of 13 players: 9 Darwin based players, 3 Gove based players and a pool player from Bundaberg QLD who is originally from the NT. We had 14 players, ready to travel down however Bailey Howie did not get exemption due to her age. Bailey trained with the team in the lead up and was still very much a part of the team at NYC participating in bonding sessions and being in the sub box with the team. She will represent the NT in touch football at the School Sports Championships for under 12s in Oct 2024.
The 2024 NT Devils Under 14 Squad:
Macey Atkinson - Gove
Faithe Bouwer - Darwin
Ciara Chapman – Palmerston & Rural
Lara Cooper - Gove
Tannah Crockett – Palmerston & Rural
Caitlin Dennis – Palmerston & Rural
Jodicee Duggan – Palmerston & Rural
Fern Hancock - Darwin
Taya Howie – Palmerston & Rural
Audrey Shilton - Bundaberg
Abbey Toy - Darwin
Jayda Toy - Darwin
Summer Warr - Gove
This year as a coaching cohort decided against selecting Captains. Instead a leadership group of 6 was formed, they took turns of Captaining in the games. These girls were chosen due to their commitment, attitude and potential leadership qualities. Our 2024 leadership group was: Lara Cooper, Caitlin Dennis, Jodicee Duggan, Fern Hancock, Tayah Howie and Abbey Toy.
DAY ONE: Tuesday 24/09/2024
This was the team’s first training run as a whole team. After training the girl’s participated in a bonding session at the Big Banana Park. Team Manager, Ashlee Wallner, created a fun scavenger hunt. The girls were split into 2 teams. Some of the activities the girl’s had to do included taking a photo in front of the Big Banana, performing a leap frog, finding something that starts with each of their names, taking turns going down the waterslide with each team member, & create a Tik Tok. They were required to take photos of videos of each of the activities. They girls showed their team work and creativity while having a lot of fun.
The jersey presentation was conducted the Plantation Hotel. Ashlee organised the venue and slideshow presentation. We were lucky enough to have a guest speaker, Dual International Representative, TFA Hall of Fame Member and Darwin born, Bo de la Cruz. Bo spoke to the girls about her journey as a Darwin girl representing Northern Territory in touch and how she made it to the Australian Team in juniors then Open level with hard work and supports. The girls were in awe with Bo’s story and inspired.
DAY TWO: Wednesday 25/09/2024
Wednesday the tournament commenced. The girl’s first game was at 12pm. This game was against a very strong Sydney Scorpions. The captains for the game were Lara Cooper and Tayah Howie. The end score was 21-0, but was not representative of how hard the girls fought. It was the first game for the girls all playing together, so they were all still finding their feet. The one thing that could be admired and as mentioned by the opposition coaches was the girls never gave up and they didn’t drop their heads. They stayed positive all game and were able to identify some really good things in the game & things we can work on for the next game.
Second game was at 3:30pm verse Victoria Storm. The girls were fortunate to have the newly appointed QLD Womens Open Coach, Leasha Thouard, in the sub-box with them this game giving them pointers. Coach Tamara Dingo and Leasha Thouard played QLD Open Women’s together in 2004. Captains for this game were Abbey Toy and Jodicee Duggan. This was a great experience for the girls and exposure. This game was much closer. The girls fought hard and were disallowed a few 50/50 tries. Unfortunately they went down by 1 try, end score 3-2. Leasha had some really good feedback to the girls about their rucking, but also some positive comments about how she admired their passion and drive as she could see how much they loved their touch. Try scorers were Summer Warr and Fern Hancock, both tries were set up by Faithe Bouwer at dummy half.
After the games some of the girls went for a beach recovery. Although it was freezing cold the girls went into the water.
DAY THREE: Thursday 26/09/2024
Day three began sunny. First game was at 10:30am verse SQBD Sharks B team. The captains for this game were Caitlin Dennis and Fern Hancock. The girls fought hard in this game with the score 5-0 a t half time. The final score was 10-1. Fern Hancock was the only try scorer. It was a great individual try where she ran between 2 players and dived over.
Second game of the day it began to gently rain during the 1:50pm game verse Sunny Coast Pineapples. The girls used the wet weather in warm-up to practice their diving. The captains for this game were Tayah Howie and Lara Cooper. This game was hard for a number of reason; the wet had slowed everything up, it was cold, and it was a challenging game for the girls. This group of girls are so resilient and strong and Coach Tamara was happy with how they conducted themselves, against another strong opponent. They banded together and had each other’s backs. End result was 10-1. Fern Hancock again was utilising her elusiveness manoeuvring around players and using her great diving skills. We did have a few near tries, special mention to Ciara Chapman who was touched just short of a score.
By third game it was well and truly raining & freezing. This game was at 5:10pm verse South West QLD Swans. The captains for this game were Jodicee Duggan and Abbey Toy. The Swans girls were well structured but played in good spirits. Our girls made them work hard for the win. Half time the score was only 6-0. This game showcased our girls diving for touches, chasing girls down and a few girls getting through from half. The girls had truly improved in just 5 games. Final score was 12-1. Again with Fern Hancock diving for a try. It is apparent she likes the left side of the field for scoring her tries as that is how 3 out of her 4 tries were scored.
DAY FOUR: Friday 27/09/2024
Day 4 we woke up with bad news. It had been raining heavily in Coffs Harbour all night. With most fields flooded by the rain TFA decided to cancel all remaining round games. Leading to an early ending for the NT Devils side.
With our tournament ending early we decided to do our presentations early. A prize was given to the team who won the bonding session on the first day: Lara Cooper, Abbey Toy, Jodicee Duggan, Macey Atkinson, Tannah Crockett and Tayah Howie.
The leadership group presented Coach, Manager and Tour Leader Lumpy a present from the whole team.
Award winners:
Most Improved – Tannah Crockett – one of the youngest players in the team. She first started playing at NYC 2022. She has improved out of sight since then. Previously she has only ever played wing, this trip she was tested in link and she thrived. Her defence was superb especially chasing down players.
Most Consistent – equal award Lara Cooper & Jodicee Duggan – both these players did all the hard work that no one else wanted to. The were always rucking, sometimes even going dummy half 5 times in a row because other people were running off. Their defence in the middle was amazing often diving and saving tries. There was not much I needed to say to them to improve as their work rate was so high.
Coaches Award – Tayah Howie – one of the most committed players at training. The quiet achiever but everything I told her to do she nodded and went out on the field and did it. Great all-rounder in defence, rucking and attack. She is finding her feet in attack this year and having more of a go at it. She has a great attitude and treats all her team mates with respect. A natural leader.
Players Player – Fern Hancock (and top try scorer) – the girls voted for best player after each game. No surprise that Fern won this as she was a try-scoring queen. So elusive in attack.
MVP – Tied Abbey Toy and Faithe Bouwer – it was hard to pick one winner for this. Both players have amazing potential and never give up in attack or defence. Always going forward and trying to set things up on the field and directing the team around.
A Word from the Coach:
If an award could be given to everyone it would be as I was impressed with every single one of them; their commitment, determination, motivation and passion for the sport. I have loved coaching every single one of them they are a good bunch of girls with so much potential and I would love to coach them again.
Some fun activities were put together for the tournament to keep it fun. It is hard for the girls to bond as they don’t stay together. So there was a game “Lay down Sally,” A costume was given (our mascot NT Devils). Whoever was wearing this costume had to wear it a minimum of an hour and then they could yell “lay down Sally.” Last one on the ground then has to wear the costume. The girls both enjoyed and feared this game. They called it in the Big Banana, the Plantation at the presentation, touch carpark, during team photos. It was quite entertaining.
Another game was made for in between games at the grounds, a scavenger hunt for every day. The girls were paired off with girls who they normally would not hang out to ensure they mixed up and had fun with other girls. I was impressed that each and every one of them participated in this. Some of the items were to take a photo with members from another permit, other coaches, the grandstand, a hill. The best item by far was to find Kerry Norman, a GOAT of Australian Touch. She is the most capped Australian representative of all time as a player and a coach. She coached QLD and Australian Open Women’s teams over the years as well as represented as a player in her time. She was also my coach when I first moved to QLD for the Brisbane Metro competition (Uni Rebels) as well at the Gold Coast competition (Southport Tigers). She became a mentor and second mum to me while living in QLD. She ws also responsible for giving myself and Bo a chance to represent Australia. She is also the mother of Australian Mens rep Peter Norman. The girls googled Kerry to figure out what she looked like, but it helped when Kerry found me as well so the girls were well aware who she was when they had to go look for her day 2.
I would like to thank everyone in the office, namely Temieka for all your work in assisting us getting away. My manager Ashlee Wallner, she did some amazing things & Lump our tour leader while we were away. Big thanks to my mum Isobel Appo who helped me with my kids without her would have been impossible to do this job, but she also helps me with anything tour wise as she knows this job in and out. But I would mostly like to thank the parents without their support to get their kids to this tournament it just wouldn’t happen.
Tamara Dingo
