A major sponsor, major coach and a major new addition to the 2025 Group 4 rugby league season has been launched, with Moree Boars’ ladies tackle team lacing up to run on at Boughton Oval on Saturday.

The season-opener against Dungowan Cowboys will be a history-creating chapter for the game of rugby league in Moree.

The Moree team, sponsored by Tait Toyota Moree, will be coached by Moree old-boy and former Newcastle A-grade player, Chris Swan, whose daughter, Alina, is part of the Moree Boars’ 20-strong line-up.

Group 4 Rugby League late last year announced the new women’s tackle competition after the extraordinary success of ladies’ league tag.

Moree, Kootingal, North Tamworth, Boggabri, Dungowan, Werris Creek, Narrabri and Wee Waa will field teams, playing in a 13-a-side format with modified rules to keep the ball in play.

Games will be played over a single 25-minute set.

Newly-signed coach, 46-year-old Chris Swan, brings a wealth of knowledge to the squad, which has been training twice a week as they prepare to create local rugby league history.

Swan played for 10 years in the Newcastle A-grade comp as well as three years at Maitland and three years with Macquarie Scorpions.

He also played a season at Wests Tigers and a year at Souths in the top-25 first-grade squad when the Rabbitohs returned to the NRL competition in 2002.

Moree Boars ladies tackle squad members with chief sponsor, Kendall Tait, from Tait Toyota Moree.

At 18, Swan represented Australia in touch football and toured New Zealand in 1998.

After injuries to both Achilles tendons in 2013 and 2014, he stepped back from the game and took up various coaching roles.

“I snapped both Achilles tendons, and when that happened I slowly retired,” Swan said.

“I did try to come back and play afterwards and had a couple of games here and there, but not a proper, full season.

“After that, I got into the coaching side of it with teams here and there, and people I knew.”

Swan is now back in Moree, working as a student support teacher at Moree East Public School, and keen to tackle his new coaching role with Moree Boars.

“I’ve got so much to give back and Alina asked me to come up and get involved and coach – and I wasn’t going to say no to her,” Swan chuckled.

He said the 2025 season will be a giant learning curve – not just for Moree, but for everyone involved in the women’s tackle competition.

“This is the first year for everyone, so we’ll start from scratch with the basics,” Swan said.

“The girls will learn how to catch and pass, and get their bodies in front to make contact.

“Rugby league is now based on a lot of structure, so I’ll teach them how to run a lot of plays that they’ll need to know.

“My plan is to break it all down to the little stuff, the basic stuff,” Swan said.

“At the moment, we’ll keep it simple and learn how to catch, run, pass and tackle. We have to get used to holding the ball and making tackles.

“Everyone is helping each other out, because there’s so many new players. It was formerly league-tag, so it’s a first for rugby league.”

The girls have been training strongly in recent weeks, with plans to expand the sessions.

“We’ve been training Mondays and Thursdays, but because there’s so many new girls in the team – many of them were tag players – we need to get an extra session in somewhere so they can learn and pick things up quicker,” Swan said.

“Everyone is keen and they’ll learn more as they play and go along. They’ll pick it up a lot better when they’re actually playing the game, get a better feel of it and learn what it’s all about.

“It will be a long year, with a lot to learn, and it’s different coaching women than it is coaching men – I’ve got to learn that, too,” he smiled.

Tait Toyota Moree’s Kendall Tait said her family-owned dealership was proud to come on board as major sponsors for the Moree Boars women’s tackle team, with the added bonus of connecting with the Group 4 reigning premiers and being part of local rugby league history.

“We’re a bit lucky. It’s brilliant,” Tait said.

“We were sponsors for years prior to this, and have started up sponsorship again this year.

“Toyota has gotten behind us as well this year by putting some good money into the community, knowing how much it’s needed with the issues Moree has been facing the last couple of years.

“It’s really exciting, and the fact we’ve now got a women’s tackle team is a huge thing.

“I truly believe it’s a tough sport and you’ve got to be a tough person to play it, and these girls are a lot tougher than I am – I wouldn’t be out there doing it, I can tell you that,” she laughed.

“It’s a good representation of our community, especially out here and what the region has to go through – it’s usually feast to famine.

“Throwing in a game of footie to keep the community going and something to look forward to every weekend, I think is what we need.”

Words and Image: Bill Poulos