Te Hapua's Kiwi Fern Nora Maaka breaks through a tackle against Australia during the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.
Te Hapua's Kiwi Fern Nora Maaka breaks through a tackle against Australia during the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines.
Kiwi Ferns coach Alan Jackson has included a trio of Northlanders in his squad to contest the 2016 Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines series against Australia.
Among several new faces introduced to the national women's squad after the recent trials in Auckland, Jackson has named Krystal Murray (Kaitaia), Janna Vaughan(Kawakawa) and Nora Maaka (Te Hapua) in his 23-strong squad that will be honed down to 16 for the tournament at Eden Park on February 6-7, 2016.
The Ferns defeated their transtasman rivals 2-1 in this year's inaugural series and 11 of that side are still in contention for the 2016 rematch. That means more than half the squad is made up of nines newbies.
"There are some unlucky players that have missed out and I think you get that every time you have to name a team," Jackson admitted, "but we're pretty excited by what we saw at the trials".
"There were a couple of new faces that we knew about, but hadn't seen much of. A lot of the new girls had attended nationals and the more football they play, the better they get."
Jackson was also impressed with the fitness of his trialists, an important element of the abbreviated format.
"We were looking for a bit of mobility," he said. 'With eight less people on the field, your forwards are going to find themselves marking backs at some point, so we were pleased with the standard of those that trialled.
"Some of the girls are in quite good shape - we might have to cancel Christmas, so they stay that way."
