John Street Oval in Cooktown was abuzz with activity on last Saturday with the Cooktown Junior Rugby League hosting the Queensland Intrust Super Cup Country Week game between the Northern Pride and Ipswich Jets.
Juniors from Cooktown and Hopevale have had a steady growth in player numbers in the past few years, playing their regular season games fortnightly on a Friday night.
With the support of the local schools and NRL Development; the club has in 2018 registered their first all girls team in the Under 14 division.
The numbers may be limited, but the girls have played regularly and travelled to Cairns to play in the Karyn Murphy Cup in May.
With the support of the QRL and the Cairns District JRL, a combined Cairns Girls Under 14 team made the trip north to Cooktown to play the Cooktown team as curtain-raiser to the Intrust Super Cup game.
This was a first visit for many of the Cairns team and Cooktown club secretary Kim Giese (who, in welcoming the team to the area), expressed the club's appreciation for the team travelling and being part of the Country Week event.
"The experience and the opportunity for the Cooktown girls to play their first ever 13 aside game at their home grounds is very much appreciated," she said.
"We are very proud of the efforts the girls have made to play rugby league and to be able to play a game here today is fantastic."
Junior games kicked off game day with the Cooktown & Hopevale juniors playing their regular games in the Under 8, Under 10 and Under 12 divisions.
