Goulburn Juniors Return for Club Visit
Members of the Canberra Raiders NRL and NRLW squads participated in Junior club visits on Tuesday Evening visiting clubs across the region.
34 NRL and 8 NRLW players visited 16 clubs across the Canberra Region Rugby League inspiring the next generation.
Jayden Brailey joined Goulburn Stockmen juniors, Ethan Alaia, Maddy Tooth and Krystal Blackwell at North Park in a full circle moment.
Goulburn Junior Stockmen club president Jeremy Ryan stated it was great to welcome back three local juniors and see them in their Canberra Raiders gear.
“It’s fantastic, we’ve got Maddy, Krystal and Ethan here who have all progressed through the Goulburn Stockmen Junior ranks,” Ryan said.
“It’s always nice to see them in their raiders gear back at their junior club and it’s always a thrill to see local juniors come back.”
For Jeremy, the return of Alaia, Blackwell and Tooth is a reminder for their juniors that if you are determined and willing to work hard, achieving your dreams is certainly a possibility.
“To make it to the level that these guys are at now takes a fair bit of determination, but if you see a kid that’s in stockmen jersey ten years ago and now in a Raiders jersey it shows that if you want to work hard enough to achieve their dream it’s more than possible to do it from this club.”
Krystal Blackwell returned to the Nation’s Capital after a couple of years with the North Queensland Cowboys, with this allowing the connection to her junior club to be strengthened.
“It’s more special to give back to a club when you’ve been a part of it and have a connection with it,” Blackwell said.
“A couple of weeks ago I did a couple clinics up here as well, it’s been nice to see a few familiar faces, that I’ve grown up with and see the kids of people that I played footy with now picking up the game.”
Blackwell began her football career with the Goulburn Stockmen in the under 15s age group and to see the club now has pathways for girls to begin the game at an early age.
These pathways are incredibly important for female rugby league in Goulburn as the town is currently without a KFS side, with the talented Raiders five-eighth believing this will assist the Bulldogs as they look to return to the competition.
“Hopefully there are a lot of girls that come through the junior club, there’s a pathway now that they can see and continue with if they want to play and them girls that are in the under 15s and 18s now can eventually come through and play in the kfs, inspire to do that and play NRLW one day.”
