On a cool Spring evening in the parklands around Albert Park Lake, where the permanent remnants of the annual Melbourne F1 Grand Prix linger, there is a flurry of activity on each of the grassed spaces which pass for sporting fields, all the way down Pit Lane.
There are young children being put through their paces at soccer training, office colleagues purging the day’s stress playing mixed footy (AFL) and more than one instance of a rugby ball being tossed about.
One such group is the Victorian Women’s Rugby Sevens team, putting in the hard work in preparation for the National Sevens Championships due to be held in Adelaide this weekend.
Unlike in Victoria’s northern neighbours though, rugby is not the main football code here and therefore not an instinctive fit for young Victorians – even less so for women.
But don’t be fooled, it does have a presence and it is growing.
With the success of the Aussie women in the World Series followed by that in the Olympics, Sevens is the focus for those trying to grow the game in the short to medium term in an effort to raise the profile of rugby as an exciting and accessible sport for women in a marketplace which has exploded nationwide in terms of the possibilities on offer.
The Victorian Women know their learning curve is steep when pitted against the likes of NSW, QLD and the ACT but their determination and endeavour firstly shows the public, and particularly girls and young women, that this is a sport for them. It also shows that Victoria should not be written off as an also-ran when it comes to rugby, be it Sevens or XVs.
Recently having spent a training weekend in Bendigo, simulating the tournament weekend format – a first for this group – Victorian coach and former Wallaroo Alana Thomas returned to the city excited by the outcomes of the time spent in the country and is pleased with the continual improvements she is seeing in the development of this group.
“The weekend was just what we needed, two days away trying to replicate the Nationals with training and games,” she said.
Thomas has a new mix of players including cross-coders, a rising phenomenon in Women’s sport where players in one sport try their hand at an alternative to test their skills and open up possibilities for a sporting career.
The new-look team of 12 has an average age of just 23 years and not only do they come from rugby backgrounds but also from touch football, netball, AFL and soccer.
Sam Homewood is the team manager and Female Development Officer with the Victorian Rugby Union and she has been overseeing the program this year watching the growth of interest from outside the sport.
“Some of the girls that have come through have started an athlete development program this year. Some from netball and footy who have just shown a bit of interest and wanted to get a few ball skills and start learning the game and the basics before actually being thrown in the deep end,” said Homewood.
Thomas is also pleased with the increased interest in the sport from other athletes.
“I think the Olympics really helped and when Sam kicked off the ADP that really started to get some interest. For some of these girls, going away for the first time (to Adelaide) and knowing the level that we are playing at and then seeing where the other teams will be at will be a good bench mark for us at this stage,” said Thomas.
While the development of these athletes as rugby players is still in its infancy, it is showing the improvement and promise which Thomas believes has them on the right track to challenge their northern rivals.
“It will be good for them and I honestly think we can target winning two out of three games. Obviously we’ll have QLD and others which will have a lot of the girls from the youth development group in the Aussie Sevens squad; so there are a few girls there that are going to have good skills but I think we can match up quite well with them,” she said.
“I have high expectations of this team. We’re going there and I’m thinking we target top four but I’d be comfortable if we came away with the Plate.”
As the battle for talent continues between sports, the rising interest in Sevens coming from those who have origins in other sports and are transitioning to rugby to give it a try (pardon the pun!) can be laid squarely at the feet of the women’s squad from Narrabeen.
Good luck to the Vic Women's 7s team heading to Adelaide for the Australian National Sevens Championships #Nat7s pic.twitter.com/Uav9UBMMJ7
— Jill Scanlon (@jdscanlon) November 17, 2016
National coach Tim Walsh is well aware of the momentum that has been borne from his team’s success and will be keeping an eye on the National Championships, regarding it as a main source of future talent as well as a learning tool for those who are already on his radar.
“The girls who have been in the program and are not in it anymore – it’s their time to stand up; and there are girls coming through from across Australia where the level is just getting better. So I’ll be very interested to see who is putting their hand up and who is going to be capable of getting an opportunity to have a crack,” said Walsh.
Though the competition will be great and the standard high, the Victorian team has a new fervour and determination and will be aiming not only to perform well in Adelaide but to make this the first big step on the path to developing both the game and the talent locally.
The key will be to keep the momentum building in order to entrench the foundations for the future of rugby in Victoria.
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