Women’s League Tag coach Ivan Lackay knows what it takes for a successful footy side, and he’s shown that with the Group 19 Tingha Tigers in northern NSW.
The Tigers have already won back-to-back Minor Premierships and this Sunday (27 August) they will be going for consecutive Grand Final victories when they face the Bingara Bullets.
Tingha is the hometown of former NRL stars like Nathan Blacklock and Bevan French.
Lackay has coached men’s and women’s tackle and touch teams for more than 12 years in the Rugby League-mad community.
“Footy is everything here in Tingha. There’s a real pride in the Tigers,” Lackay told nswrl.com.au
“Getting a team to gel is about everyone being there for the right reasons. And there’s got to be mutual respect between everyone.”
It helps that Lackay has six members of the one family, the Vickery sisters, in his League Tag team – Dakota, 17, Paige, 19, Shanae, 21, Tory, 22, Breony, 24, and Monique, 27, who is captain (pictured above with Lackay).
“It’s great to have so many from the one family because you know all of them will turn up for training,” he said with a laugh.
“You do get some continuity on the field with them playing so much together. And they are all very respectful young women.
“Everyone looks up to them because they’re such good players.”
Lackay starting his pre-season in January and training the women twice a week also helps produce a quality football side.
“We do train hard, and I reckon we’re the fittest team in the comp. Having the touch footy background also means a lot of the moves and plays are already there.
“The girls are light on their feet and when they do the moves all the time, it just becomes second nature.”
Monique Vickery paid tribute to Lackay’s enthusiasm for the women’s League Tag team.
“He is so committed – he only missed two training sessions the whole season because he had work in Sydney,” she said.
“He just puts in the effort; we have team dinners; he’s created such a good atmosphere.
“That kind of respect for us and dedication is key to the team going well because if you don’t look up to your coach you won’t listen to them.”
As for playing with her five sisters, Monique said that stretched back to playing sports in primary and secondary school in Tingha.
“We didn’t have a big variety of sports to play. So we all ended up in the same teams even with the different age brackets because we needed to make up the numbers coming from a small school.
“Touch football was one of those teams. When we left school it seemed a natural progression to go into League Tag rather than opting for soccer or something else,” Monique said.
“But when we’re on the field I don’t think about it as playing alongside my sisters. We have a couple of cousins and best friends also on our team so I just think of everyone as teammates.”
The family connection doesn’t end there. Older brother Bryden, 30, is captain-coach of the Tingha Tigers A Grade side.
“So it’s hard not to talk about footy when we’re all together,” she said.
