Three schoolgirl teams representing Cairns, Mackay and Townsville will take centre stage for a curtain-raiser competition at the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys home game against the Sea Eagles at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday.
The round-robin style event will coincide with the club’s Women in League celebrations for this match, which will include the Cowboys NRL team wearing their 2015 Women in League jerseys.
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The under-14 girls’ district teams were selected from various school trials held earlier in the year, and will showcase the talent of young women in the sport.
"The schoolgirl curtain-raiser is all about providing an opportunity to play at 1300SMILES Stadium, something that every young rugby league fan dreams of," said Cowboys game development manager Liam Bartlett.
"There will be three 20-minute games in total, but we're not pitching it as a win or lose competition.
"It's just another way for us to further support our women in league."
Shannon Fentiman, Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Multicultural Affairs will be on hand to present the schoolgirl participants with special merchandise packs.
The participants will also be part of the guard of honour for the NRL team run-on at 7.30pm.
Gates open for the Cowboys v Sea Eagles game at 3.15pm, with the first of the girls matches to kick off at 3.30pm.
The Cowboys will also recognise women in league at the game with a series of activations, supported by match day sponsor Shine Lawyers.
Saturday's showcase of women's rugby league will provide a great taste ahead of the Women's Interstate Challenge between Queensland and New South Wales that will be played prior to the Cowboys' Round 16 match against the Sharks.
There are now more than 180,000 women playing rugby league with the Women's Interstate Challenge to be live streamed on NRL.com.
