Kate Brown and Peta Cox excited to join Will Guest as Blue Boars’ women’s team co-coaches in 2022

First, they were newcomers, and then they quickly became respected senior players – now, Kate Brown and Peta Cox have joined the Narrabri Rugby Club’s women’s team coaching ranks.

The dynamic duo will co-coach the team alongside Will Guest next season and are thrilled to be part of an exciting transition for women’s rugby in the zone.

The Central North Rugby Union women’s competition has been run as a sevens format since its inception in 2018 and will expand to 10s in 2022.

Teams will have the opportunity to agree on exactly which format they play each matchday based on their respective player availability.

That means that Narrabri Blue Boars fans could watch their women’s team compete in a mixture of sevens, 10s and 15-a-side games throughout the 2022 campaign.

However, finals matches will be all played as 10s matches.

Having Brown and Cox on board during this exciting transition will be a significant benefit for Narrabri’s young side.

The duo were teammates when they played for the ACT Brumbies in the Super W competition and are keen to help grow the game in Narrabri.

“I feel like I have knowledge from our time at the Brumbies that I’d like to impart on the girls here,” said Cox, who played in the Super W comp for six seasons.

“Growing women’s rugby has always been a passion of mine.

“I did coaching in Canberra with junior girls, and I’ve also worked as a development officer too.

“Last season, the girls were very open to our opinion. They wanted to learn more and they were always asking us questions, especially when they didn’t understand things.

“We worked really well with Will last season, so it will be easy working with him this season. All three of us have different knowledge.”

Brown, who was part of the ACT Brumbies setup for eight seasons and was a member of Australia’s 2017 World Cup squad, has already set her goal for the Narrabri team in 2022.

“Premiership,” she answered when asked what her side was capable of achieving next year.

“That’s 100 per cent achievable.

“With the girls we had last year, we can do it, and I’m sure we’ll pick up a few new younger girls too.

“I think 10s will suit most of our players a lot better. Also, some of the other teams in our comp are much more suited to sevens, so that will definitely suit us playing them.

“I coached Martha Harvey for a little bit a few years ago for Central North in under-15s and, for me, she’s one of the best players in the state in her age group. When you’re playing with people like that, what can go wrong?”

“That’s definitely not an impossible goal for us,” Cox added.

“I think that our team is very much suited for 10s.

“A bit more structure will do us well.”

Brown and Cox both relocated to Narrabri from Jindabyne for work about 15 months ago.

Brown took on a job with National Parks while Cox is a school teacher at Narrabri Public School.

Brown, originally from Scone, said that the duo enjoyed being a part of Narrabri Rugby Club in 2021.

“Moving here and not knowing many people, it’s just been great to meet so many new people through the club,” she said.

“It’s a great club. Anything you ask someone is always there to help.”

The keen duo have now turned their attention to pre-season, which will likely begin in February.

“There’ll be lots of skills work, and we’ll be trying to get everyone up to the same level,” Brown said.

“We need to get our beginners up to the same level, so during the season we’re able to run functioning training sessions.”

“Being women, it’s a bit different because a lot of us haven’t grown up playing rugby,” Cox added.

“So we’ll be focusing on those basics like catch, pass tackle tech and the safety side of things, and there’ll be a little bit of fitness work too.”