Albury Cougars under-14 girls to contest Australian Club Championships after huge year

Albury's under-14 girls are set to become the first team in almost a decade to represent the association at a national level after an undefeated run through the Junior Premier League.

The team of Ellie Lyons, Jorja Stevens, Olivia Telford, Kijana McCowan, Rose Bell, Ruby Moona, Ava Lowe, Leah Blakemore, Charlie Gibson and Harriet Hogg posted victories against much larger associations, including Newcastle, Illawarra, Maitland, Canberra and Central Coast in a streak of 11 victories to finish well clear on top.

As a result, they earned a spot at the Australian U14 Club Championships in Melbourne from September 27 to October 2 against the best teams in their age group from across the country.

Coach Clinton Lowe has been delighted with the way the girls have punched above their weight throughout the season against more-fancied opponents.

"They're a great group to coach and they've got a great bunch of parents who make sure they are there every week," Lowe said

"They want to work hard and they're prepared to have a crack at everything. We get them to think outside the square a little bit.

"The way they play, they're gritty. Yes they're skilful and athletic, but they're really hard workers."

Top-agers McCowan, Lyons and Moona represented NSW Country, while bottom-agers Leah Blakemore and Charlie Gibson also had state experience this year.

Additionally, Gibson, Blakemore and Ava Lowe earned Riverina selection.

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Lowe said they were scheduled to play in Maitland last weekend, but it was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns in NSW.

He hopes it won't impact the national club titles.

"It's up in the air in September with two dates to finish our JPL season and state championships have been cancelled because of Sydney's mess," he said.

"We're trying to be mindful of the community as well. We don't want to go to a tournament up around Sydney and potentially put the rest of the community here at risk with COVID.

"The other thing is if we go to our JPL finals weekend, it's the week before nationals and under current restrictions, we couldn't go to nationals.

"For the sake of the girls, I hope they run it anyway, even if there's certain teams that happen to miss out.

"I'm fairly confident our under-14 girls last year would have made it and they missed out on a full season last year. It's unfortunate, but hopefully this group can get something out of it.

"This age group is the only age group where you get to represent your city or town on the national landscape. Every other year level as they move up is state-based, but in under-14s you get to represent Albury."

Both Lowe and assistant coach Caroline McCowan won championships with Albury Cougars' men's and women's teams in the early 2000s and hope their daughters Ava and Kijana can follow in their footsteps.

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