THE COFFS Coast’s top touch football players have represented the Northern Eagles at the National Championships in Coffs Harbour.

The Coffs players were part of Northern Eagles teams contesting Touch Football Australia’s The Championships, held at the C.ex Coffs International Stadium and surrounding fields.

Fourteen local players took on the nation’s finest at home, including Daniel Bartlett, Nick Bent, Colin Bruckard, Trent Hunter, Jason Rooney, Abel Straker, and Des Teale in the Men’s 40s, Alexis Grayson, Katie Hunter, Judith McNeill, and Brooke Pacheco in the Women’s 40s, and Brendan Pellegrino, Dal Phoonie, and Kevin Rigney in the Men’s 50s.

Women’s 40s player Judith McNeill described the challenges of representing the Northern Eagles at the National Championships.

“The Northern Eagles is a massive region, from just above the Hunter all the way up to Tweed and out west to Tamworth, which is one of the challenging things for Eagles teams,” she said,

“Our team, the Women’s 40s, had one training session where we could get most of the team together one week before the Championships, so really our first game was like another training session, it’s very challenging.

“And we also play against some pretty tough teams, some of them are amazing and so well drilled.”

McNeill said the Coffs Coast’s juniors were thriving.

“We’ve had a lot of growth in juniors, and we’ve just had our third season of rep touch for juniors,” she said.

“We’ve had quite a few kids selected to represent the Northern Eagles at the Championships later in the year.

“We are really happy with the growth in our juniors.”

The National Youth Championships will be held in Coffs Harbour in September.

By Aiden BURGESS