A south-west team is working hard in the Limestone Coast Rugby League off-season, committing to play in a Harmony Day competition in Melbourne.
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Gunditjmara Bulls coach Andrew Ferguson and captain Raiha Gillett are excited to see how the side fares in the Storm Harmony Nines series at Casey Fields on Saturday.
Ferguson said the Bulls would play three games. Five women's teams have entered, along with six men's outfits.
The top-two women's teams will face off in a grand final as a curtain-raiser to a NRL practice match between Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys.
Altona Roosters, Doveton Steelers, Melton Broncos and an NRL Vic All Stars squad will be the Bulls' competition.
"Hopefully we get a good result," Ferguson said.
He said playing the All-Stars squad would give Gundjitmara a gauge of their progress as a team.
"The outcome we're looking for is for it to be a good match up between us and them," he said.
"They will have more experience than us. It will be the first time a lot of our girls will have had a really professional game.
"They (my players) are looking very determined to have a run and show what they have got.
"They have been wanting to do it for a while."
Ferguson said being involved in Harmony Day appealed to the Bulls.
"These Harmony Day games are not just about Melbourne Storm," he said.
"It is a cultural thing. Everyone is a part of rugby league - Aboriginals, Maoris, all nationalities come together."
For Gillett, 34, it will be fitting farewell to the Bulls.
The New Zealand-born forward, who moved to Australia as a teenager, is returning to the North Island in a few months. "I've got one more good run in me," she said.
Gillett said she'd enjoyed being part of the inaugural Bulls' female team which was formed last year.
"It was my first year playing rugby league," she said.
"I'd grown up around it with my brothers and father into rugby league and rugby union. The last time I played rugby union I was in school back in New Zealand."
Gillett said the Bulls "had nothing to lose" and wanted to "give it a go" in the Storm Harmony Nines tournament.
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