Oztag: Tamworth Taipans teams ready to take the field at Junior State Cup

Six boys teams and five girls teams will take to Coffs Harbour's C.ex Stadium against the best in the state between Wednesday and Sunday, with the championships being split into two mini tournaments.

The under-13s-17s will play Wednesday and Thursday, and the under-9s-12s Saturday and Sunday.

Usually held in February, the tournament has been pushed back to accommodate for last year's postponed nationals, which has made for some added challenges, Tamworth junior oztag convenor Katrina Davis said.

As well as being a bit down on numbers compared to previous years, their preparation has also been hampered by various circumstances.

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"It has been a bit of a struggle with trainings and having consistency with the weather and other sports that are on at the moment," she said.

"Luckily a lot of the girls are playing league tag in league tag competitions and so they're getting match time."

It was good too, she added, that a few of the kids got in some games last week at the high schools gala day.

She said the feedback from the various coaches about how their sides were looking has been "mixed".

"It hasn't been as smooth as it normally has been so it will be interesting to see how that plays out when we get to the competition," Davis said.

In saying that, she said there is "definitely is potential" to improve on previous results with a majority of the teams very similar, although it "will be tricky" with only the one division this year.

"The last few years we've had division 1 and division 2 (it was canned by Australian Oztag due to a lack of interest)," Davis said.

"We've had good results in division 2 but all of our teams are now in division 1."

Arguably the most excited of the Taipans' are the under-9s. It will be their first time donning the purple and white at a state level.

"For them it's all about the exposure and the experience and having a good time," she said.

It is a busy calendar with the 2022 nationals set down for October.

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