The sides (ranging from under 10s to under 18s) had their first hit out for the season at a gala day in Taree on January 24. More than 50 teams from Macksville to the Newcastle area were involved in the event.

“It was the first hit out for junior representative touch for the season and all teams went well competing against teams travelling from Newcastle up to Macksville,” Forster Tuncurry Touch Vice President Matt Wood said.

The gala day was a good lead up to the upcoming Hunter Hornets Championships that will be held in Nelson Bay on February 6 and 7. There will be four local teams (girls under 14s, 16s and 18s, along with the boys under 16s) travelling to these championships.

All ten teams from Forster Tuncurry Touch will then head to Port Macquarie on February 19, 20 and 21 to compete at the NSW Junior State Cup.

Matches at the Taree gala day were used as trials by the selectors for the Northern Eagles representative sides in the under 14, 16 and 18 girls and boys divisions.

“Forster Tuncurry has a number of players who are in contention for Eagles selection which is great for Forster Touch and also the area.” Wood said.

Taree Touch president Graham Goodwin was delighted by how the day was run and looks forward to future gala days. He ensured that the number of teams competing is the maximum number of teams that they can accommodate.

“Each team had four games,” Goodwin said. “We didn’t keep overall results, but it was a good hit out for all the sides.”

“Fifty is about as many teams as we can take with the fields we have.”

Following the recent wet weather the teams were fortunate enough that the fields dried out quickly.

“The fields were really wet,” Goodwin said. “But they dried out perfectly. That’s the best condition I’ve ever seen them.”