Holcim Cup club-by-club preview

Author: Jacob Grams QRL community content producer
Timestamp: Fri 14 Apr 2023, 06:43 AM

The Holcim Cup is back bigger than ever in 2023, with the region's premier A grade female competition ready to kick off this weekend.

The league will play host to eight teams in the top tier competition this season, with Currumbin Eagles and Beenleigh Pride new to the competition and Nerang Roosters joining A grade.

Holcim executive general manager and former long-serving Queensland Rugby League administrator Brad Tallon said he was excited to see the competition growing.

"It's really important at this level we support the growth of the game. Women's rugby league has just taken off and it has become a great product," Tallon said.

"It's a different product to the men's game, I find it really exciting. I talk to a lot of people about how good it is to watch and the skills are tremendous, but to support the higher levels they have to come through from the base and that's not just players, it's referees, coaches, first aid officers and people running clubs.

Representatives of Nerang, Goodna, Wynnum Manly Juniors, Ormeau, Beenleigh, Valleys and Currumbin ahead of the 2023 Holcim Cup season. Photos: Jacob Grams/QRL

"Over many years women have been the backbone of local clubs and it's great to see them coming to the forefront of the game and we're excited to be part of it."

Valleys are looking to go one step further after going down to Goodna in last year's grand final, luring the experienced Don Gailer back into coaching to oversee the Diehards' burgeoning female program.

Here's how things are shaping up for Valleys, Goodna, Wynnum Manly Juniors, Beenleigh, Ormeau, Nerang, Runaway Bay and Currumbin ahead of Round 1.

Goodna Eagles

Coaches: David Eliu and Vili Leaunoa

Co-captains: Loms Tuifao and Bridget Smith

Player to watch: Bella Pita (returning premiership winner)

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Tuifao: I think we're interested in playing Currumbin Eagles, a new team coming in and it's going to be exciting to play every team. Every year it's a different story, you have great talent coming in at every club. It's going to be good to see where we are alongside everyone else.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Tuifao: There's a few key young players but we'll have to let it play out and everyone will find out from there.

Valleys Diehards

Coach: Don Gailer

Captain: Grace Griffin

Players to watch: Ava Walters (Harvey Norman Under 19s Norths Devils), Jenny David (Harvey Norman Under 19s Norths Devils), Lauretta Leoa-Seve (BMD Premiership Norths Devils)

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Griffin: I guess looking at history from last year, for us Goodna is probably the team to beat. We were one each with them last year throughout our season and we went into the grand final as favourites and lost to Goodna, so I guess they're the team we'd like to get one over, a bit of redemption. In terms of players I think it's one of those competitions where you don't know who's going to pop up for which club so if anything it's exciting to see who you're lining up against week in, week out.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Griffin: We have a lot of girls who have just come across to rugby league who are at Norths in our squad at the moment who will be floating in and out of our team to start with and once they get to Valleys and can play some consistent footy it will be exciting to see their growth.

Ormeau Shearers

Coaches: Brittany and Kimiora Breayley-Nati, Ronnie Lavender

Co-captains: Jonny Lavender, Larissa Marurai

Ormeau Shearers co-captains Jonny Lavender and Larissa Marurai

Players to watch: Kiarah Siauane (Harvey Norman Under 19s Souths Logan Magpies), Jodeci Nicholson (BMD Premiership Souths Logan), Lesa Siauane

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Jonny Lavender: We've always had a rivalry with Runaway Bay and Goodna, so we always love playing those two teams but we're really looking forward to playing the new teams coming in and giving them a nice friendly welcome.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Lavender: We've got some young guns coming up from Souths Logan's Harvey Norman Under 19s, like Kiara Siuanne. She's injured at the moment but when she comes back she'll be a gun to watch. The other one is Jodeci Nicholson who plays BMD Premiership for Souths Logan. She had a break last year after having a baby so we're looking forward to her coming back as well.

Runaway Bay Seagulls

Captain-coach: Rona Peters

Players to watch: Marama Thomas (BMD Premiership Tweed Seagulls), Matekino Kahukoti-Gray (Harvey Norman Under 19s Burleigh Bears), Tayla Fenton (BMD Premiership Burleigh Bears)

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Runaway Bay female coordinator Jadene Kini: Ormeau is normally a tough club that we tend to have a love-hate relationship with in terms of footy, but off the field we all have connections with the girls and it's always interesting when we play each other.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Kini: Chazmin Holloway-Samuels - she was one of our new girls last year and comes from a touch background, and she got our rookie of the year last year, so she's come back and we're excited to see more from her. She's got that attitude we're excited to see on the field.

Wynnum Manly Juniors

Coach: Vince Torrisi

Captain: Nirada Phonsaya

Wynnum Manly Juniors player Nirada Phonsaya

Players to watch: Kennedy Harrison-Vahua, Madeline Burton

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Phonsaya: A lot more teams are in the competition compared to last season so our biggest competition last year was Valleys and Goodna. There's a lot of new teams and new players so it will be interesting to see how they go.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Torrisi: There are a few under 19s from Wynnum Manly Seagulls that are coming through to our competition, but particularly Alyssa McCarthy. She played Harvey Norman Under 19s and played a couple of games in BMD Premiership so it will be interesting to see how she moves up the ranks.

Beenleigh Pride

Coach: Nick Barnes

Captain: Tori Groves-Little

Players to watch: Tori Groves-Little (Gold Coast Suns AFLW), Ngalika Barker (North Sydney Bears)

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Groves-Little: I think the hardest team to play will be Goodna, they've been pretty strong in the last few years playing grand finals and winning premierships, so I think it will be good to come up against them and see where we sit. And it will also be nice to play the new teams and find our place on the ladder and work our way up from there.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Barnes: Sienna Lofipo, Destiny Mino-Sinapati and Emma Barnes are players to look out for. They'll probably get (NRLW) contracts this year.

Currumbin Eagles

Coach: Jordan Dwyer

Captain: Teaghan Hartigan

Players to watch: Crystal Tamarua (New Zealand Kiwi Ferns), Azariah Wallace (Harvey Norman Under 19s Burleigh Bears)

Which team or player are you looking forward to taking on most this season?

Hartigan: Being our inaugural year I think it's more about us and what we're building as a club and I think it's exciting for us. We're not linked with a statewide club at the moment, but we already have capacity to confidently field a team so we're just building on what we have and building a good foundation for years to come.

Which rising stars will emerge from within your team in 2023?

Hartigan: One of our up-and-coming under 19s girls is Azariah Wallace. She's a big front rower for us. She played in the Harvey Norman Under 19s comp for Burleigh and I thought she was really unlucky not to be selected for the Rubys and Sapphires game and now she's going to come up to Open Women's. I think we'll see her dominate and push her point for Burleigh and BMD Premiership in the coming years.