Inaugural Western Cubs under 18s push Penrith Panthers

That special group of players are the Western Cubs - the first under 18s Western women's side.

On Saturday afternoon at Bathurst's Carrington Park under the guidance of coach Kaitlyn Mason, the Western Cubs very nearly upset their Penrith rivals.

Penrith held on to win the clash six tries to five, but the Cubs proved something that Mason already knew - there's a whole lot of talented female players within the Western region.

Mason was part of the inaugural Western Women's Nines competition in 2016 that allowed females to play tackle for the first time.

Since then she's seen it grow in to what is now a five-grade, six-club competition.

"I'm not surprised, I knew it was there, it was just giving them the opportunity to take it further," Mason said.

"Once we created that opportunity and competition with the Western Women's, we had the players and the talent there but we just needed that comp to develop the younger players.

"So it's not really surprising, the talent is there, it's just that the opportunities now are greater than what they were.

"I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to help develop their skills and give them confidence to now to take it one step further."

While some of Mason's side for Saturday's match included a handful of players who been part of Western's inaugural Lisa Fiaola Cup squad, for most it was a new experience.

They had little time to get to know each other before running out against Penrith, so Mason stressed a simple message.

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"Half an hour before the game we had our first training run, the girls didn't know much of each other, so we spoke about communication being the key and playing that simple football," she said.

"I said to them it was going to be hard because we'd never played together as a team, we had to do those little one percenters."

In the first of three 25-minute periods the Panthers looked a class above Western.

Their pace around the ruck, their support play, their sweeping back line shifts, their line speed in defence - it all impressed.

Panthers crossed twice in the space of six minutes, both tries coming off the back of Western errors.

By the first change the visitors led 3-0, but Western had produced some bright moments.

They had a try disallowed for a forward pass while second rower Taylor Keppie was held up over the line.

During the break Mason reiterated her message that her players needed to communicate and work together.

That's exactly what they did.

It took just 85 seconds after play resumed for Western to post its first try, Libby Peschka punching through on the right edge.

Eight minutes later halfback Shakaye Walker palmed her way over and when Forbes talent Kirby Maslin finished off a nice back line move, Western was on level terms at 3-all.

While Penrith was the next to score, a bustling run from Sophie Whiteman saw her over between the sticks and the game tied again.

Under pressure the visitors lifted to score late in the second period and cross again in the third, but Western's effort continued until the final whistle.

Twice Western held up Panthers players over the line, while Keppie picked up a well deserved try late in the piece to put the final score at 6-5.

It wasn't a win, but what it did do was showcase Western's talent.

"Once they got in there and got a feel for the game they played well. To come back and score four tries in that second stanza was good," Mason said.

"They adjusted well, just that simple lane in the tackle, getting the bodies into the tackles and slowing them down in the ruck, we did that really well in the second stanza.

"That just goes to show the depth in our Western Women's competition out here. It shows the togetherness and what happens when they're working for each other, it shows on the field."

While Mason was impressed with the efforts of her entire squad, she did single out a handful of players for praise.

"Young Breighel [Thuell] at fullback, her speed and her talk out the back has been good," she said.

"Charlotte Gray getting us going forward, Taylor Keppie in the second row. She's one I've coached against for a couple of years and in the past year I've now got to coach her.

"Kirby Maslin, her speed outside and awareness with the ball in hand, she goes great."

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