Western Force vice-captain Michaela Leonard says she’s excited about the development of emerging WA locals Sammie Wood, Nicole Ledington and Rosie McGehan.
The backline trio were instrumental in Friday’s 36-12 victory over the Melbourne Rebels in Round 1 of the Buildcorp Super Rugby Women’s, which comes ahead of a tough Round 2 clash with 2023 runners-up Queensland Reds.
Fly-half and Aranmore College product Ledington was named the AFGRI Force Player of the Match for setting up several tries, while Kalamunda scrum-half Wood had a hand in a few too.
Wood, 19, debuted in the final round of last season before spending time in New Zealand working on her craft in New Zealand in the off-season.
Kalamunda outside back McGehan, who graduated from the Fortescue Academy, scored two tries in her debut in Round 1, winning plenty of admirers.
“They’re incredibly talented athletes coming through, as you mentioned WA locals, through the Academy system,” Leonard said about Wood and McGehan. “They’re two really exciting players to watch over the next few years.
“Sammie Wood particularly this year has come out of the off-season break, you can see how much work she’s done to develop her tactical to knowledge and using that to help us review and preview teams as well.
“The performance both girls put on last weekend is just the start and they’re only going to grow as the season continues.”
Wallaroos lock Leonard, who turned 29 earlier this month, also heaped praise on n.10 Ledington, who has played 10 Super W games for the Force having debuted in 2021.
“Nicole is another really exciting young player coming through,” Leonard said.
“She’s been part of the Force system now for a few of years now. This year, in particular, she’s really starting to find her voice as a game driver and direct the whole team, and the forwards in particular around the park.
“Great vision for the game, great ability to move the ball, shift the ball and put others into space. I’m really excited to see how she grows over the rest of the season and the coming years as well.”
Saturday’s game is part of a Super W and Super Rugby Pacific double-header, with kick-offs from 2:05pm and 4:35pm respectively.
The Reds, as 2023 grand finalists, represent a major test for the emerging Force side which Leonard was excited to take on.
“We did lose to the Reds last year, they made it to the grand final, so they’re a formidable team to come up against,” she said.
“But we’ve made some recruitments and some big changes in our program and squad this year and I think we’re feeling confident about how we’ve gone so far in pre-season games and Round 1 last week that we can get the job done.
“The mood in the squad this week after last weekend’s win is really positive. Everyone is excited to come out and build on the things we did well and fix the improvements we need to make. We’re really excited for the doubleheader at HBF Park.”
The double-header is part of Kids’ Round, where the first 1,500 kids through the gates at HBF Park will receive a $20 food and beverage voucher to spend at the game. The vouchers will be distributed at Gate 1, via the Western Force Cheer Crew.
The double-header will be live on Stan Sport, while there will be regular updates @WesternForce on social media. The SRP men’s game will also be live on 9GEM.
