FOUR Orange Emus Chicks will turn out for Central West at this weekend’s NSW Country Women’s Championship at Tamworth and, if you ask their coach Amanda Ferguson, the entire quartet are genuine chances of earning Corellas jerseys.

NSW sevens representative Nikki D’Aquino will headline the group and will be joined by Tiarne Parkes, Kate Trudgett and Stacey Howarth in the Central West side, which will take on Hunter, Illawarra, Central North and New England.

The Corellas squad to play against Sydney and participate at the Southern States Championship and the National Championship later this year will be named at the end of the tournament.

Considering this year’s competition will be the biggest and best attended in several years, earning NSW Country selection will be easier said than done.

“The large number of players participating at the championships would put the pressure on all players to perform in an attempt to win a Corellas jersey,” NSW Country coach Mick Burgess said.

Ferguson said she was confident of her side doing just that, performing.

“Winning is our first priority, but if we do well earning a few Country jumpers would be beautiful,” Ferguson said.

“There’s several of the girls who have indicated they’d like to be considered. 

“Hunter and Illawarra definitely will be tough, Illawarra is basically the [University of Wollongong] side and Hunter are always a strong team.

“I think we’ll definitely be competitive. We’ll be trying to keep it simple.

“We’ve got quite a bit of height so our lineout will be a strength. We’ll look to try and make sure all our set piece is really benefiting us.

“Otherwise, we’ll try and stay patient with the ball and defend well.”

Ten matches will be played in a round robin format on Saturday, with the first match kicking off at 9am and the final match scheduled for 3pm.

matthew.findlay@fairfaxmedia.com.au