Coach Coffey couldn’t be prouder following grand final glory 2023

Narrabri Rugby Club’s president and women’s tens team co-coach Mick Coffey could not have been any more proud of his team when the siren signalled full-time at Chillingworth Oval in Tamworth on Saturday and their 26-12 grand final victory over Gunnedah was etched in history.

The Blue Boars girls have faced and overcome so many hurdles over the past 12 months, none greater than the tragic death of their former coach, the late Will Guest, in November last year.

It has been a significantly long year for the playing group, who have been training since January in preparation for the Santos Festival of Rugby, which basically rolled right into pre-season.

They also went into 2023 missing a few key players from last year’s side, including Martha Harvey, Brooke McKinnon and Kate Brown.

When the season did roll around, they didn’t get a game until round three after being dealt back-to-back byes in rounds one and two, and they missed out on a few games during the year due to opposition forfeits.

But nothing was going to get in the way of Narrabri Rugby Club winning their maiden women’s premiership this year, and to make it even sweeter, they were able to claim a minor and major premiership double following a near-perfect campaign that included just two losses.

Coach Coffey has been with the Blue Boars girls every step of the way since their grand final defeat last year. He has been inspired by their resilience and determination over the past 12 months and declared that they were deserved premiership winners.

“I’m extremely proud. I probably can’t settle on the right kind of word to use in front of the word proud,” he said.

“It’s an amazing effort for the 12 months we’ve had.

“A week after the grand final, we were losing two of our rising stars who, within six months, went on to play for the Waratahs, and we were losing a Wallaroo to retirement.

“Other clubs would have written us off a bit, thinking ‘they didn’t get it last year, so they won’t get it this year’ because they are losing those players.

“When you lose three really key players like that in a team of 10, it would have been very easy for the girls to have a negative attitude or be a bit dismissive of the season and think we’re not in it. But to their credit, they signed on at our first session back in January and week in and week out they have put in and given it their all.

“It says a lot about the maturity and the type of women that they are. They have bought in and given so much, and they thoroughly deserve to be celebrated like they are.

“A lot of people and teams win the minor premiership and don’t get all the way to the major premiership.

“For our girls to go minor and major, it’s a pretty special thing, and I’m very excited and pleased for them.”

The Narrabri Blue Boars faced two final hurdles on grand final day in the form of a red-hot Gunnedah side and some even hotter conditions, but they managed to get the job done in style.

The Red Devils came out firing and opened the scoring with a converted try in the fourth minute, but just as they have done time and time again over the past 12 months, the Narrabri side overcame that obstacle to go into half-time ahead 14-7. They then charged away in the second stanza to a 26-12 premiership victory.

Coffey said he was thrilled with how his team played on the day.

“It was a tough game. It was really hot,” he said.

“We had a bit of a nervous start, but I kind of predicted that. We had a quick chat at the first break about resetting. Our focus word all year has been ‘blue wall’, in defence and attack, and that means getting connected and work hard for the person next to you. We had a good blue wall talk.

“Gunnedah were really fast and aggressive, and they were targeting the breakdown heavily, which we were expecting. I kept Chelsea Hancock on the bench for the first 10 minutes because I knew she’d be able to go on and take it up a notch at the breakdown and set a standard that I could point to. She did a great job of that for five minutes before getting injured and having to leave the field. But the girls had recognised the difference and the momentum shift when she came on, and that gave the other girls in the forwards a standard to work to, and they did.

“The rest of the game, it was what we said all along, we just needed to play our style of footy and contain Gunnedah’s, and if we could contain them, the opportunities would come for us.

“Our girls don’t always like that. We have girls who score points and like the ball in their hands and want to take people on and challenge themselves. But if you do that against a good team, you get isolated and turned over, and you leak points yourself quickly.

“Everyone played really selflessly. It wasn’t about any individuals, and we then managed to capitalise on a few opportunities when we got them.

“There was none better than that try of Abbey Anderson’s (in the second quarter, which put Narrabri ahead 14-7 after Toni Gale converted it). That was the perfect example of building something out of nothing. People will talk about that try for years, I reckon. It took the pressure off us and put it back on Gunnedah. It’s a sensational bit of history for Ab to have under her belt.”

Narrabri Blue Boars’ president and women’s team co-coach commended his players’ mindsets this season, especially the way they all gave 100 per cent each game and played without hesitation, and he said that despite all the points that they had put on this season, it was their defence that had won them the premiership.

Looking back at the campaign as a whole across all three grades, Coffey said that he rated it about an eight out of 10 for Narrabri Rugby Club.

“First grade had it coming to them all year, every single week because if you want to make the finals, you gauge yourself off where you finish at the end of 80 minutes against the premiers,” he said.

“At one point there, I think we were sitting seventh, but it didn’t matter, teams were still up to beat us. It’s much harder to defend a grand final than it is to win one, and our girls are going to find that out next year.

“It was only us and Pirates that made finals in all grades, and I think that’s exceptional, especially when you look at the population base across the zone, and we come in at sixth.

“We always punch above our weight. I’m really proud that we got all three grades in.

“We started training in January, keeping in mind, for the Festival. It’s been basically nine months, which is a long time in anyone’s book, let alone an amateur bush footy club where everyone works full-time and has families and other obligations.

“Off the field, we’ve had struggles too. We lost Guesty, who was a great mate to the club and has been heavily involved. In recent years, he was on the committee and was a coach. It’s something that has weighed heavily on people.

“We haven’t had the easiest year, but to turn out a performance that saw all three teams make finals, people get some decent rep honours, and people get some good individual accolades across the zone, I think it’s well above a pass mark and it’s probably around an eight out of 10 for the year.

“I’m really happy. I think that our members are, I know that the players are, and I hope that our sponsors are as well.”