Superhuman Chambers eyes ultimate cultural triumph
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Such is the passion Patrice Chambers has for her culture and her Brisbane Natives teammates, not even a fractured limb could stop her.
The proud Koa / Kuku Yalanji woman is preparing to put the exclamation mark on the side’s Queensland Murri Carnival dominance at the 2023 Murri v Koori Interstate Rugby League Challenge on Saturday – the first time the champion open women’s teams from the QMC and NSW Koori Knockout will play off.
It will also give Chambers the chance to test her game fitness just a few weeks from returning to training after suffering a fractured ankle in the Natives’ second game of the 2022 Murri Carnival.
The diagnosis came as a shock to the 28-year-old Wynnum Manly Seagulls BMD Premiership hooker, who played through what she passed off as a rolled ankle to lead her side to a third consecutive victory.
“I had an avulsion fracture. What happened was basically my ligament went to tear off the bone and a little bit of bone went with it,” Chambers said.
“On the Tuesday after the carnival, I went to see the physio we see with Wynnum. He put me in a moon boot and said ‘you’ve probably done your ligaments, so we’ll put this on’ and we got the scan and he was like ‘oh my God’.
“I’m so glad I went in, because it was giving me a bit of pain.
"I only just got cleared to run again at the start of January.”
Chambers said the team was brimming with excitement to play in the landmark match, hoping to put on a show the inspire Indigenous girls to shoot for the stars.
“It’s really big for us. We’ve kept the same group together for a long time, and this is really the first game of its kind for the women, so it’s really exciting,” she said.
“It will be really nice to get people all together and watch some good footy. The way Indigenous people play footy, nothing can compare.
“It’s good playing club footy and stuff, but I think the most fun the girls have is at the Murri Carnival and Koori Knockouts and other carnivals around in the off-season.
"I think people have the most fun there because you’re playing with your cousins or aunties or sisters and it’s heaps of fun. It will be such a good day.”
The game is part of an eight-game bill celebrating culture through rugby league, bringing together Queensland Murri, NSW Koori and Queensland Samoa teams for the Arthur Beetson Foundation and Deadly Choices event.
Chambers will be in full flight come March 11 when Wynnum Manly Seagulls host Mackay Cutters at BMD Kougari Oval to kick off the BMD Premiership season.
