Katrina Fanning Shield: Round 1 Preview

The Katrina Fanning Shield season has finally arrived with four matches set to kick off round one this weekend in Canberra's premier women's tackle competition.

Round One Matchups:

West Belconnen Warriors v Goulburn City Bulldogs, Raiders Belconnen 9:20am Saturday 6 May 

The Warriors women's tackle side will take the field for the very first time in the Katrina Fanning Shield as they host Goulburn City Bulldogs on Saturday morning.

West Belconnen have recruited quite well for their debut season while Goulburn will look to turn the tide on their unfortunate finals run over the past few seasons.

Goulburn centre Annika Picker spoke upon the competitiveness of the Katrina Fanning Shield and Goulburn's will to lift the Shield in 2023.

"[We learned to] expect anything in finals footy. We beat Woden in every round game and then come finals time, they got over the top of us," Picker said.

"But, we'll be better prepared this year and hopefully go good."

West Belconnen forward Caroline Tai touched on her first year of playing league and the benefits of the KFS Preseason Academy with Raiders coach Darrin Borthwick.

"I think it's going to be pretty tough. [I've been] doing the KFS Academy with Darrin (Borthwick). That was a good experience to just get my foot in the door and play around with league," Tai said.

2022 Season Finish:

West Belconnen Warriors: Inaugural Season

Goulburn City Bulldogs: 3rd (Preliminary Final)

Queanbeyan Blues v UC Stars, Boomanulla Oval 10am Saturday 6 May

The Queanbeyan Blues will aim to go one further this year as they open their 2023 KFS season against the UC Stars.

The Stars continue to be a great club on and off the field, consistently bringing new girls to the game as a University club.

They finished 7th in the 2022 competition but flourished in the Katrina Fanning Plate finals series, going down to Harden in the Major Semi.

Meanwhile, Queanbeyan will look to further improve on their fourth-placed finish in 2022, after going down in the semi's to the eventual runners-up Woden.

Those improvements were voiced by Blues KFS player Briony Frater, who touched on their impressive preseason.

"Preseason has been really good, we've had a good group of girls show up," Frater said.

"We're really hoping we can take it to the next step this year."

UC Stars rep Sam Williams touched on the challenge of retainment and their club's promising preseason heading into round one.

"Retention was tough most years but this year we had quite a few come back which was great," Williams said.

"We've got quite a few new experienced girls, and normally when we get some new players, they don't know the rules. But this year we've got some really handy players."

2022 Season Finish:

Queanbeyan Blues: 4th (Minor Semi)

UC Stars: 7th (KFS Plate Major Semi)

Queanbeyan Kangaroos v Yass Magpies, Seears Workwear Oval 11:50am Saturday 6 May

The Queanbeyan Kangaroos will make history this weekend, when their inaugural Katrina Fanning Shield side take the field in the clubs' first home game of the season.

The Roos will host the reigning premiers, Yass Magpies, in a bid to cause a huge upset in their first game of the year.

Meanwhile, the Magpies broke all sorts of records in 2022, winning the Katrina Fanning Shield while finishing the season undefeated.

Taking out the premiership for the first time since 2019, the Magpies will have a target on their backs all year as they aim to go back-to-back.

Yass captain Sami Afele touched on the experience in their side and how they shape up ahead of round one.

"We've got a decent squad at the moment, and we've got about nine or ten girls playing in the Country Championships squad. So, I'm looking forward to just getting together and playing again," Afele said.

Queanbeyan captain Carrie Mitchell spoke with media about the club's excitement heading into a special debut at home this weekend.

"I'm really excited about this year. The girls have grown in preseason where we started really early," Mitchell said.

"We do have a few girls that are starting in the deep end, coming over from tag to tackle. Watching them in a trial [the other weekend] was perfect and I'm really stoked."

2022 Season Finish:

Yass Magpies: 1st (KFS Premiers)

Queanbeyan Kangaroos: Inaugural Season

Gungahlin Bulls v Woden Valley Rams, Gungahlin Enclosed Oval 1pm Saturday 6 May

The Gungahlin Bulls will create club history as well come Saturday afternoon, where their first KFS side will take the field against the Rams.

The Bulls become one of two new North-side clubs, joining the Warriors, with great registration numbers and some expectation to succeed in their first season.

The Rams on the other hand excelled in their debut season in 2022, going all the way to the KFS Grand Final to unfortunately go down to Yass at Seiffert Oval.

Woden will be looking to replicate that form this year and try to do one better.

Gungahlin outside-back Matisse McNair spoke with media about the promising preparations for the KFS side and the culture they're building ahead of round one.

"We've had training (sessions) with KFS at the start, so we were able to merge both the games together and focus on generic skills. We've had great numbers at training," McNair said.

"We've got a real mixture of everyone, but we do have some experienced girls in there as well. I think the club has really worked on those numbers and that's a credit to the club and the culture we're building.

Fresh recruit women's tackle player Penny Bate has bought right into the Rams' culture and is looking forward to the challenge of going one better this season.

"Preseason's been really fun. We did really well last year coming second and I'm really keen to join the team," Bate said.

"We've been really working on our fitness, agility and putting a real focus on our tackling.

2022 Season Finish:

Gungahlin Bulls: Inaugural Season

Woden Valley Rams: 2nd (KFS Runners-up)