Southern women’s squad start training

THE Southern Confederate rugby league women’s squad started training yesterday for the championships later next month.
The 21-member squad went through their paces at the Apex Park under coach Bagelo Solien with the women being assessed on their fitness and skill levels over a two-hour period.
“We have been given only two weeks to get this squad ready for the national zone championships in Lae from August 11-13 and hopefully everyone gets passed fit and we can focus on defending the title we won last year,” Solien said.
“The players just need to come to training and continuing working hard to have a chance to make the final 18 for the championships.
“We will be looking at training attendance, attitude and knowledge of the game. The girls have been told that we won’t tolerate or entertain bad or slack attitudes.”
Solien said the side had a job to do and in order to accomplish the goal they had to be serious about it.
He said he was hoping to see a good number of his players make the national squad for the rugby league women’s world cup in Sydney at the end of the year.
Solien said nine players from last year had made it back into the zone side with 12 new players.
“It’s good to have a mix of experienced players and new talent. This is how we identify new talent, we pick them give them a chance and if they have what it takes we’ll know pretty quickly.”
Vagi Vali is the squad’s trainer while a team manager has yet to be appointed.