Group 4: Jacqui Jones eager to go bigger in 2024 after stellar year

The second-year Gunnedah Bulldogs league tag coach started well and led her side to the semi-finals of the Group 4 competition once again.

But on the day they were playing the Dungowan Cowgirls for a place in the preliminary final, Jones was unavailable - on the other side of the world.

The Curlewis Public School principal was in Ireland that weekend, representing Australia's mixed seniors side in the Tag World Cup for the second time.

She was dismayed to miss Gunnedah's first finals game - which they lost in a thriller - but praised the Bulldogs women for their tenacity in the face of significant adversity.

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"Losing that final has given them a lot of hope," Jones said.

"I wasn't there, so they played that game without their coach and one of their ballplayers. And they won that game all but the last two minutes."

Meanwhile, in Limerick, Jones was likely standing on a soaking field as Australia rebounded from an early loss to beat Great Britain (the team who had initially defeated them) 11-2 in the final.

"It was awesome," she said.

"It just shows what you can do when you come together as a team."

The occasion marked Jones' fourth time in Australian colours, and her second world cup victory.

To celebrate, she, her sister Deneka, and one of their friends, Carys Griffiths (who both played in the Australian Indigenous open women's team at the World Cup) journeyed south to France for the week following the competition.

"We went to Paris," Jones said.

"We went to Disneyland, which was fantastic. We ate a lot of food, and we spent a lot of time at a lot of airports."

Though they left Europe earlier than they otherwise might have so Jones and her sister could play in the Group 4 preliminary finals if needed, she said she "wouldn't change it".

And with the Gunnedah women's coach yet to be announced for 2024, Jones hopes to be granted a third season at the helm.

Given all she has achieved this year, that success has left her more fired up than ever to try and see her girls through to a grand final.

"Hopefully I get to have another go with them," she said.

"The girls make it much easier to be motivated, because they're an awesome bunch of girls to coach and play with."

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