Tallon Smith

The Albury Thunder will return to fielding five teams in 2026 with the club announcing that it intends to field its first women’s tackle team in the Group Nine competition.

Should the club attract enough players, the Thunder will enter the second season of the Group’s women’s tackle competition, with a view towards further expansion in the form of an under 18s girls tackle side.

Albury Thunder President Rick O’Connell said that the decision to field a side was made to allow female players in the region to play competitive rugby league.

“It will give an opportunity to the females in our area to participate in rugby league if they want to, we did try for this season, but just didn’t quite get the numbers,” he said.

“Hopefully we can build on the success of our women’s nines carnival and more junior players coming through the ranks and entering the senior grades to hopefully field a team in the Group Nine competition.

“To be a complete club, if there’s a competition there for women, Thunder wants to be part of that action.”

Leading the Thunder’s charge will be experienced Border rugby league player, referee and administrator Mark Daly, who has been appointed to the role of coach for the upcoming campaign.

Daly said that he is optimistic that the club will have the numbers to field a team given the rapid growth of women’s footy over the past eight years since the introduction of the NRLW.

“I’m pretty optimistic, there’s a fair few interested in the women’s tackle, plus the under 18s tackle is starting up this year too, so we might get a few girls for that as well,” he said.

“I think there’s a market there for women’s tackle and there’s a big chance Albury will be a part of that as well.”

A former President of the Group Nine competition, Daly was instrumental in instituting the women’s tackle competition in a trial format in 2024, and was a major backer of the under 18s girls tackle proposal that was delayed for 12 months before being approved for 2026.

Daly said that it is good to see rugby league finally catching up to other codes in offering strong, equivalent female competition.

“I think with the AFL, they’ve got a pretty good women’s [competition], same as soccer, so the women’s [market] is very competitive at the moment,” he said.

“[The aim is] getting the side together and improving the girls’ [skills] so in future years to come they will be competitive and have a strong contingent of girls tackle rugby league [players] in Albury.”

With a wealth of knowledge in the game, O’Connell backed the appointment of Daly as the side’s coach as a big step towards establishing a competitive team.

“Obviously Mark loves his rugby league, he’s been around the Thunder for a very long period of time and President of the Albury Thunder Juniors before that, and his passion for the game is second to none,” he said. 

“He’ll certainly be out there hoping and encouraging anyone who puts their hand up to say they would like to play for the Thunder to get them on the park, teach them the skills of the game and go from there.”