The club has confirmed that it will field a women’s team in the Canberra competition for the first time ever in 2019, and Kara, a former Brumbies player, will take on a co-coaching role, alongside ex-Dirty Reds player Rob Sheekey. 

Women’s rugby union has been growing in prominence for some time, and this year is the first time that numbers have been strong enough to put together a team. 

“For the last couple of years, we’ve had enough girls to play rugby sevens,” Kara said. 

“And now that we’ve got a lot of those junior girls that are starting to come up, they’re available to start playing seniors.” 

After discussing the idea with Sheekey, Dirty Reds coach Ben Pearson, and club committee member Kelly Anable (who is now the manager of the women’s side), it was decided that they would try to field a 15s side for the upcoming season. 

There is no shortage of talent among the local ranks, and Kara firmly believes that numbers will begin to skyrocket once the girls who are currently playing at school level become old enough to join the senior leagues. 

“There’s heaps of talent in backs and in forwards [in Goulburn],” she said. 

“Mulwaree, Trinity, and Goulburn High I know there’s lots of girls’ rugby sevens teams, and Trinity this year had a rugby tens team playing over in the Canberra competition.

“Looking at within two years’ time, all these junior girls are going to be coming into the open seniors’ comp, and we’re only going to get better.” 

Training for the Dirty Reds women’s side has already begun, and takes place every Tuesday and Thursday from 6.30pm to 8.00pm at Poidevin Oval. 

Currently, Kara said that there is an average of roughly 12 girls per session, but “the goal’s always to bring a plus one”, and she hopes that the numbers will continue to grow as the season gets closer. 

The Dirty Reds women’s side will play a trial match against the AFP on February 2 at Poidevin Oval from 10.30am.