Narrabri Rugby Club women’s 10s guns Cass Morley and April Smith have been named in NSW Country Rugby Union’s senior women’s Corellas team that will compete at the Australian Rugby Shield tournament in Newcastle later this year.
The Blue Boars duo were named in the squad in June after impressing for the Central North zone at the 2025 NSW Country Championships tournament in Tamworth in May, and they were recently announced as members of the final team after attending a camp in Newcastle.
The duo have been standouts for the Narrabri Blue Boars’ women’s team across the past few seasons and helped guide them to back-to-back premierships in the 2023 and 2024 campaigns.
Smith was the player of the grand final last year and Morley was named Narrabri’s Jim Meppem memorial shield winner for club representative player oof the year.
Both players have been in super form this year, helping guide Narrabri to a history-making undefeated minor premiership-winning season.
Smith has been selected as a halfback and Morley has been chosen as a fullback for the coming tournament.
Morley made her debut for Corellas at the 2024 tournament in Caloundra, and an appearance this year will be a debut for Smith in the seniors after she represented NSW Country in the juniors as a 17-year-old.
Three other Central North players were named in the Corellas’ initial 35-player squad, which include Tamworth Pirates duo Jada LeBrocq and Nikki Berryman and the Gunnedah Red Devils’ Jean Littlewood. Berryman and Littlewood have also been named in the side to travel to Newcastle for the tournament, which will run from Wednesday, October 1, to Sunday, October 5.
Narrabri Rugby Club president Daniel Kahl told The Courier that everyone at the Blue Boars was proud of Morley and Smith’s selections, which he described as well-deserved.
“It’s awesome for the club. It’s always good to have players involved in rep programs,” Kahl said.
“A huge congrats to Apes, who it will be the first time in the senior country team after playing for NSW Country in the juniors, and for Cass, who is backing up after playing for the side last year.
“It’s great to see, and it’s just rewards for those two.
“We had a few in the women’s and men’s teams for Central North, and for some of them to get called on for higher honours is really great.
“It obviously benefits those players who will learn and grow plenty as players, but what they will bring back to the club is equally as beneficial to us as a club.
“Hopefully seeing them in those positions will encourage others to seek rep opportunities too.”
The two players both told The Courier that they are excited to line up in Newcastle at the national tournament later in the year, and they were both ecstatic that the other had been selected.
“Ever since I came home from Sydney, I think that was in 2021, I’ve wanted to make Country,” Smith said.
“I was pretty happy to make it and I was actually quite shocked, to be honest.
“Playing 15s is so different to playing 10s. We don’t get to play 15s out here, so it will be cool to get to play that again. I’m keen for the higher level of footy too.”
“The pride of putting on the NSW Country jersey, that burnt orange jersey, that’s the best memory from last year,” Morley added.
“Definitely looking forward to that again.
“I thought it’d be good to give it another shot, and after having played one year already, I’m a lot more confident going into the second year. I already know a lot of the girls and the coach.
“Being there before makes it a lot easier to make the switch from 10s to 15s, because we don’t get to play 15s in our comp.
“We finished third last year and I think we can go better this year. We can take out the comp. We have a pretty handy team.”
There were three Narrabri Blue Boars men’s team players who were set to be selected in the NSW Country Rugby Cockatoos men’s squad after impressing at the NSW Country Champs event, but they all had to decline the offers due to personal commitments conflicting with the dates they were required to be available for the squad.
Those three players included club captain Sam Spanton, first XV captain Will McDonnell and fan favourite Josh Schwager.