Narrabri girls compete at the 2021 NSW Country Junior Rugby Union Championships

Narrabri Junior Rugby Club’s girls’ youth academy is already producing results following its introduction at the start of 2019.

Eight players from the club represented the Central North zone at the 2021 NSW Country Junior Rugby Union Championships in Kiama on Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2, two of which earned selection into their respective age groups’ NjuniorSW Country squads.

They were Martha Harvey, who was named best back in the under-18s division, and Holly Ford (under-16s).

Their Narrabri Junior Rugby Club coach Denis Harvey, who is Martha’s father and also coached the Central North under-18s side at the weekend, said he was proud of both Narrabri girls.

“As a coach I’m beside myself, people don’t realise how hard it is to make those teams,” Harvey said.

“It’s a big thing being from the bush and making a Country team.

“These girls have really put the work in and have now been rewarded.

“They’ve both had a lot of lonely evenings doing things like sprint training.

“They’re both very impressive.

“Holly in particular, she’s a standout, a hard-worker, humble and tough.

“She’s the daughter of Bob Ford who played many years as a Country prop.

“Bob was there when his daughter’s name got announced and it was a pretty proud moment, as it was for me obviously too with Martha.”

Harvey also commended the youth program implemented by Narrabri Junior Rugby Club at the start of last year which is already delivering results.

“We put in place the girls’ youth program in Narrabri last year and this is a direct result, I’m very proud of that,” Harvey said.

“Less than two years into the youth girls’ program we’ve now had two girls make country teams, that’s the objective of what we are trying to do.

“It was also a success for Central North Rugby as well.

“Central North as a whole, across 14s, 16s and 18s, took away 60 girls and 18 were selected for Country.

“That in itself is a direct result of the introduction of the Friday night competitions which give the girls a chance to play week-in week-out footy.”

Under-16s and 18s matches across the Country Championships weekend were 15-a-side contests.

Martha was joined by Narrabri teammates Bella Cruickshank and Shona McFarland at the tournament in the under-18s division. The trio and their Central North side finished runners-up following five wins, three draws and two losses across their 10 matches.

That team was coached by three former Narrabri Blue Boars guns Denis Harvey, Matt Jones and David Nichols.

Holly played alongside Narrabri teammates Miranda Hamilton and Tashanny Clark at the championships in Kiama. Their Central North under-16s side placed fourth after winning one of their four matches.

Narrabri duo Zoe Watkins and Cady Davies both competed for the Central North under-14s team which won two of its four 10-a-side matches and placed third overall.

The three Central North sides now turn their attention to the NSW State Championships at which they will all compete in their respective age divisions across the June long weekend.

Meanwhile, the Narrabri Junior Rugby Club’s under-14s, under-16s and under-18s girls’ teams will play their first games of the 2021 season when the North West Regional Youth Rugby competition returns to Dangar Park on Friday night.

The junior Blue Boars will challenge Pirates in all three grades.

Matches in the girls’ competitions will be 10-a-side 30-minute games for the first half of the season before all three grades shift gears and return to the sevens format of 2020 for the remainder of the year.

Harvey said that the club had more than 40 girls registered for the 2021 campaign and following a two-month pre-season runs by coaches Matt Jones, Colin Parkes and Harvey himself, the three teams were showing signs of great potential ahead of their round one matches