Port Macquarie sisters Shelby and Leilani Grainger and Bonny Hills local Cian Cowdrey have won silver in the International Tag Series while playing with the Australian Indigenous Women's 22s Oztag team.
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Nearly 3000 athletes representing 30 nations travelled to Coffs Harbour on Thursday (August 4) to participate in the tournament.
Shelby, Leilani and Cian were selected in the Australian Indigenous side after playing in the Battle of the Nations tournament earlier in the year.
Shelby said it was a powerful experience to see the teams represent their country and celebrate their culture during the series.
"It was a pretty amazing tournament to play in and probably one of the most memorable openings that we've been a part of," she said.
"The cultural aspect of the entire tournament was amazing as well... seeing New Zealand doing the Haka before games and our Indigenous side doing war cries was one of the most incredible parts of the experience.
"We've brought the silver medal home not only for ourselves, but for our family, our mob and our people who are in our hearts and on our minds every game and gave us the strength to get through the tournament."
Cian, who has only been playing Oztag for two years, said she was honoured to have been selected in the team and is looking to continue playing representative Oztag.
"Shelby, Leilani and I all played together in Port Macquarie, so to be able to play in such a representative side is incredible, I'm just proud of everyone," she said.
"It was really exciting to be part of the tournament. All of us girls came together on Thursday for the first time and we pretty much clicked straight away.
"Although it was disappointing to lose the grand final, we made amazing friendships with everyone, we really got along with each other and it was just an amazing experience."
While the Grainger sisters only started playing representative Oztag last year, Leilani said the tournament has given them the encouragement to try out for more Oztag competitions.
"The tournament was pretty tough, it wasn't like anything we had experienced before, but it was amazing to be part of such a high level competition," she said.
"I think making the grand final and getting silver is a really good achievement as this was our first time playing in the tournament.
"The next thing we have our sights set on is the Battle of the Nations which is where we can be selected for the International Tag Series again that will be played in Ireland.
"We are also looking at playing in the Oceania Cup, so there's a few things we're hoping to be involved in after this."
