Tara Murray
A group of Tarneit school girls are celebrating becoming state champions.
The Tarneit Senior College entered both girls and boys teams into the NRL 9’s championships with both teams making it through to the grand finals.
The girls team, which made it through to the finals automatically due to only three teams competing, faced Melton Secondary in a best-of-three grand final series for the state title.
Melton won the first game, before Tarneit won the second game. The third game was called off due to injuries on the Melton side.
The result was then decided by the most number of tries, with Tarneit being declared the winner.
Two of the team members Sarah-Ann Ngata and Margaret Salesulu were thrilled to get the win.
“I think it was a really good thing for us,” Sarah said.
“We had been training a lot and were very determined to win the state title. We had a plan.
“I’m very excited and very proud.
Margaret added, “After losing the first game we realised that we weren’t prepared.
“We hadn’t trained that much before the first game, we were rusty at first but we worked really hard.
“I don’t play rugby at all, so to win a state final is a pretty good feeling.”
Both girls said they were gutted not to be able to play the deciding game of the competition. They said they were both so proud of their teammates and coaches.
Sarah said she joined the school team as she knew it would help her club rugby.
Margaret was one of a number of players in the team who don’t normally play.
“It’s my last year and I wanted to do as many sports as I could,” she said.
“It was fun and I wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
Tarneit’s boy’s team also made the grand final, but lost by two tries.
Coach Jamie Calleja-Bailey said it was an outstanding achievement by both teams. He said the girls team had also won the title about three years ago.
“The boys and girls demonstrated great integrity and sportsmanship throughout the tournament. “The girls having a disappointing opening round a few weeks ago spent their lunchtimes training and working on their fitness which really paid off in the state final.”
The school will be presented a Melbourne Storm jersey for winning the competition next term. There is no national stage of the competition.
