The camaraderie and commitment of players impressed Gold Coast high performance staff as much as speed and strength at the inaugural Titans Women’s Combine held at Parkwood on Saturday.
More than 200 women rugby league players from around Queensland applied to be a part of the Titans Women’s Combine, with a final list of 60 chosen to attend a day of training and testing at the Titans High Performance.
From there, the list of hopefuls will be trimmed back again to a total of 36 players – two squads of 18 – who will make up the Titans Blue and Titans Pink teams to contest the first ever Titans Women’s Invitational match at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday 7 September.
There is no doubt the final 36 women selected for the historic match will be made of the right stuff, with the application and performance of the players at the Combine impressing the Titans high performance staff.
Some of the girls for the early-morning start at the Combine were backing up after having played in the SEQ under-18 Women’s Grand Final between Brothers St Brendan’s and Redlands Parrots at Cbus Super Stadium the night before.
It was the type of dedication that caught the eye of Titans Head of High Performance Dan Ferris, who was in awe of the players backing up after playing in a grand final.
“It is huge,” Ferris said. “They have turned up, there are no complaints and they are ripping in. It is good to see.
“It has been a great turnout from the girls. The one thing I noticed in the camaraderie that they have is excellent.”
Ferris said the players were put through a range of tests at the Combine to help construct training programs for the 36 selected to play in the Invitational.
“(We’re looking for) a baseline, just to see where the girls are at and then we can set a program for them heading into the first game, before our last NRL game against the Dragons,” he said.
“We can see where they are at, set a baseline and then start the programming.”
Titans Executive Chairman Dennis Watt was on hand at the Combine to welcome the players, and said the event was another step in the Club’s ambition of fielding a Gold Coast Titans team in the National Rugby League Women’s premiership.
“There are 60 girls here today, all trying out to be a part of our inaugural Titans Women’s Invitational game on 7 September. It’s a great concept,” Watt said.
“Today is really about building momentum, and getting the building blocks in place for us to field a team in the national competition.”
