April Smith named CNRU’s best and fairest for the 2025 campaign

April Smith has been at the heart of the Narrabri Blue Boars’ Central North Rugby Union women’s division dynasty for the past four seasons, but she has well and truly stepped it up in the 2025 campaign.

The 24-year-old was selected for Central North’s representative side earlier in the year and excelled at the Country Champs in Tamworth, earning herself a call-up to the NSW Country team that will line up at the Australian Rugby Shield next month.

The gun five-eighth also played a key role in Narrabri’s undefeated minor/major premiership run, and she was named the winner of the Rhiannon Byers Cup for the best and fairest player of the competition during the post-game presentation after the 36-25 grand final victory over Pirates on Saturday.

Entering the season of one of just five players who had played multiple seasons in the past, Smith was challenged by her coach Andrew Gale to lead by example for a young and inexperienced side.

She certainly did that on and off the field, and she was one of the best players on the park in the grand final victory.

Smith told The Courier she was proud to have received the best and fairest cup.

“I was really shocked to get it, to be honest,” Smith said.

“I think I’ve had a pretty good season, but playing with Toni (Rae) and Peta (Cox), I was pretty shocked to get it over them.

“I feel like I trained really hard all year, so it means a lot. I’m really stoked to have gotten this.”

“It was really special to win the grand final and go through the whole season undefeated,” Smith added.

“We had a lot of players who hadn’t played before and a pretty new team.

“To go undefeated was pretty cool.

“The new girls killed it in the grand final.

“It was a really tough game. Tamworth were a lot better than what they have been this year. It was definitely a bit of a shock to us. We had to defend so much in the second half.

“They were super tough all game, and they were coming back at us pretty hard, but they just ran out of time.”

Smith declared that she would be back for the Blue Boars in 2026 as she and her teammates look to defend their title and make it four in a row.