1 week Ago By Melanie Dinjaski
Scroll down to re-live the highlights from Saturday's Canberra sport blog. As Canberra's winter sport season kicked into gear in full this weekend with the opening rounds of the John I Dent Cup and AFL first grade competitions, an iconic rugby league team has issued a desperate call-out for players so they don't fold. SALE ON NOW! Tap into unlimited access Login or signup to continue reading All articles from our website & app The digital version of Today's Paper Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox Interactive Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia All articles from the other regional websites in your area Continue The Queanbeyan Kangaroos were forced to forfeit their second-straight Katrina Fanning Shield game on Saturday, putting their 2025 season campaign in a precarious position.
"We had a meeting during the week, and the girls have decided to kick on, so we've just put it on them to get some more numbers, and we'll go from there," Kangaroos vice president Quentin Baker told The Canberra Times. "We knew it would be a work in progress, but we're hanging in there." The team are looking forward to a competition-wide week off over Easter and hope that during the break they can boost their playing numbers for a round three comeback at home against the Woden Valley Rams.
Women in first grade aren't allowed to play before the age of 17 and the club is still building its player pool eligible to play Katrina Fanning Shield after shifting back to the their roots in rugby league heartland in Queanbeyan having competed as the Bungendore Kangaroos last year. The Kangaroos said Canberra Region Rugby League has been a fantastic help but urged any women keen to play to get in touch with the club as soon as possible. "It's a great club, it's a great bunch of ladies.
Our results weren't fantastic last year but we're working on it," Baker said to potential recruits. "We've got the under-17s training with the open women so there is a pathway coming through. "With any luck hopefully we can get back into it in round three.
" The Queanbeyan Kangaroos are recruiting women players for KFS. Picture by Keegan Carroll CRRL general manager Mark Vergano said they've been in close contact with the Kangaroos to track their progress in recruitment, but flagged that another forfeit would force "consideration" about the club's ability to keep playing. "They've tried really, really hard to get the team together and we're supporting them, but they've got a fortnight after this week's matches to get themselves organised and get some more players," Vergano said.
"Our rules say that on the third forfeit there's got to be consideration as to their place in the competition, but it's only two so far and they've been liaising with us quite closely, and they've been very enthusiastic, so we're trying to give them every chance to keep a team on the field." Vergano said the women's teams are all supportive and there are conversations between clubs to explore options for lending players when some are short on numbers. He also said CRRL tries to use social media channels to try and assist in recruiting players into Canberra's premier women's rugby league competition.
"Even though it's growing, it's still relatively new," he said. "It's still a developing competition, therefore they need plenty of support." BRUMBIES YOUNG GUN SHINES The Queanbeyan Whites might have run away with a big 40-22 win over the Gungahlin Eagles, but there was a neat highlight from one of their Brumbies young guns in the John I Dent Cup round one rugby match.
Brumbies youngster Deveraux Tapelu and his winger had a brilliant combination for a try with the 19-year-old collecting a miraculous pass out wide to score in the first half. Rory Scott's miraculous pass inside to Tapelu to score. Picture Bar TV Sports In other men's matches on the weekend, the Royals beat the Vikings 38-24 and Uni-North defeated the Lions 36-34.
In the Women Premier 15s competition, Western District held on against the Owls 36-22, while the ViQueens kicked off their championship defence in style against the Royals winning 24-5. TIGERS HUMBLE KNIGHTS The Tigers got to a 2-0 half-time lead against the O'Connor Knights in their NPL Men match and couldn't be stopped as they added another two goals to beat O'Connor on their home turf, 4-0. Archie Mcgregor had a brace with Augustine Bangura and Tomohiro Ogawa the other goalscorers.
Queanbeyan City meanwhile were forced to share points in a nil-all draw. TRI COLOURS PUT UP TON The Ainslie women smashed Tuggeranong Valley by 130 points in the AFL first grade action. Of the 20 goals Ainslie booted in the 20.
12 (132) - 0.2 (2) win, Charlotte Hurn and Karina Demant both scored four goals each, while Biana Kaden and Imogen Morse nailed three goals each. Eastlake and Queanbeyan were the other AFL women winners over the Jets and Magpies respectively.
The Ainslie men also put up a ton in their 15.12 (102) - 8.4 (52) thumping of Tuggeranong, while the Demons also began their season with a bang punishing Gungahlin in a 29.
19 (193) - 1.3 (9) victory. View + 18 Photos AFL Women Round 1: Ainslie Tri Colours v Tuggeranong Valley at Alan Ray Oval, Saturday April 12, 2025.
Pictures by Keegan Carroll 80-METRE TRY IN BULLDOGS COMEBACK In Saturday morning's women's rugby league there were some cracking matches. The Goulburn City Bulldogs had a brilliant comeback win over the Queanbeyan Blues 20-16 at Seiffert Oval after trailing 4-12 at half-time, with a standout effort by bench weapon Heidi Staples the highlight. Staples showed her incredible pace and agility to beat four defenders and run 80 metres to score a runaway try that got the Bulldogs the lead in the second half before skipper Court Picker sealed the victory.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHT VIDEO ABOVE But the most entertaining match of the day had to go to the Sharks v Gungahlin Bulls game, with two sin bins for professional fouls and a whopping 54 points scored by Belconnen. Sharks winger Ella Van Den Heuvel had a hat-trick and nailed seven conversions to single-handedly score 26 points for her team in the win. Elsewhere the West Belconnen Warriors beat Yass Magpies 24-14, while the Queanbeyan Kangaroos forfeited their match against the Tuggeranong Bushrangers at Greenway Oval due to insufficient player numbers.
Re-live the highlights, news and scores from Saturday's Canberra sport blog below! Share Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email Copy Melanie Dinjaski Sports Reporter Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know.
If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch! Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know.
If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch! More from AFL Leg injury, concussion mar Carlton's breakthrough win Steve Larkin Canberra sports wrap: Iconic club makes desperate plea after second forfeit Melanie Dinjaski • No comment s Rowell steers Suns past Kangas in AFL's Barossa debut Shayne Hope Leg injury, concussion mar Carlton's breakthrough win Steve Larkin Canberra sports wrap: Iconic club makes desperate plea after second forfeit Melanie Dinjaski • No comment s Rowell steers Suns past Kangas in AFL's Barossa debut Shayne Hope Port, Hawks set for fiery re-match to end Gather Round Roger Vaughan More from AFL Leg injury, concussion mar Carlton's breakthrough win 21m ago Canberra sports wrap: Iconic club makes desperate plea after second forfeit 32m ago • No comment s Rowell steers Suns past Kangas in AFL's Barossa debut 51m ago Port, Hawks set for fiery re-match to end Gather Round Tigers star may return three days before court sentence Bolton to lead X-factor attack against old Tigers mates Newsletters & Alerts View all Daily Your morning news Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. Loading.
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