Temora can't shake the target on their back as Group Nine prepares to play

Gathering at the Wagga RSL on Monday night, representatives from six clubs shared their expectations for the incoming season.

After years of dominance in the senior competition Temora and Wagga Kangaroos are anticipated to be threats once again.

Meanwhile building on their strength in the junior competition in recent years, Wagga Brothers are keen to bounce back from last year's semi-final loss.

Hoping to climb up the ladder, Southcity look to improve from their single win last season.

The introduction of a Group Nine women's tackle competition has brought new players to clubs, and across the board tag programs are welcoming them.

They've been a force within the competition for years and entering the 2024 season as back-to-back premiers, Temora are still the team to beat.

Junee's Abbi Duck and Georgia Carroll said the reigning premiers will once again be the toughest team to beat.

"Honestly, it's still Temora, they've been the team to beat for a few years now and they're going to be hard to beat," Carroll said.

Duck agreed with her teammate and said as the game continues to grow her side's skill is increasing.

Junior talent filtering into sides also has an impact on their strength.

"The whole game is constantly evolving, we came from in 2020 being beat 98-0 every week, so we're happy to be competitive, but ultimately Temora and Kangaroos are always very high up there," Duck said.

"Temora said they've got strong juniors coming up this year so that'll put them even higher."

Southcity leadership member Lucy Fulham said while Temora are the standout, her side are hoping to be competitive with the middle of the table.

"Probably our biggest competition is through that middle group," Fulham said.

"We're not the best in the competition, we haven't won a grand final in a while, so around that Brothers mark would be good, but Temora is obviously the team to beat because they've won the grand final the last two years."

Returning Brothers coach Chris Suckling said there's no looking past the Dragons, but he's expecting it to be the tightest competition in recent years.

"It's always Temora, they're a very, very good side but it'll be pretty even I think," Suckling said.

"Kangaroos will be there, Young, Albury, and by the sounds of it Junee have a lot of numbers, I think it'll be a very even competition."

But for the reigning premiers, Brothers have something to prove, and strong recruiting at Young cannot be overlooked.

"I actually think it's a bit of a toss up, I'm sure Brothers are going to want redemption from last year but I genuinely think Young will come through too," captain Nikola Henman said.

While every league has individuals that shine, the recurring statement from the players was juniors are the ones to watch.

The return of Courtney McCrone to Temora's side adds further experience and depth to the team, while they also welcome new recruits Sophie Bowley and Bell McDermott.

Starting the year with 27 players in their leaguetag side, there was hope some of those girls might move into the tackle competition.

While there's been some crossover in the teams, Henman said the more women they see around the club the better, even if it means some selection headaches.

"We actually hoped it would have an impact, we had 27 players at the start of the season so we were hoping a few girls would say 'we're more interested in tackle and take our numbers down a bit," she said.

"But it's completely separated, we've got two separate playing groups so that's been really good and give we don't have any 16s or 18s this year in our club, it's really good for us as a club to get another team on the paddock."

Meanwhile Duck said Carroll is the one to watch when the Diesels take the field.

A state touch representative, and one of the eldest players in the side, her leadership on and off the field sets her apart.

"Georgia is our trusty halfback/fullback and kind of fit into any of our roles," she said.

"She leads the girls around the team and we appreciate her a lot."

The Diesels will also benefit from club juniors ageing into the opens side this year.

"We had a trial game in Gulgong, I think we had four debutants that game coming up from our juniors and all four scored," Duck said.

"So off the bat we've got lots of young, quick nifty speed and lots of people to watch on our sides as well."

They too are benefiting from an influx of players thanks to the new tackle competition, saying the additional bodies at training has been a welcomed change.

The Junee duo said that the new players have already had a positive influence around the club.

Joint training means players are learning rules across both formats and further strengthening each side.

"We have our trainings combined because we'll implement the same systems and game style, I don't think [tackle] has implemented tag too much, if anything it's had a good impact, it's exciting to have more people around the club," Duck said.

Over at Southcity, Shanae Bloomfield has been impressive at training after moving into the club from Turvey Park juniors.

With experience playing tackle for the Riverina Bulls, she's a testament to what junior investment can lead to.

"It's all part of growing the team, we're a bit slack on numbers this year so it's nice to have those juniors come up and not be too scared to have a go," Fulham said.

With one of the strongest junior league tag programs in the competition they're reaping the benefits as those girls age into senior football.

Suckling said maintaining a focus on team efforts will be key moving forward.

"We try to play as a team, and try to not rely on a certain person, it's about combining as a team," he said.