Photos: Peter Oliver Imagery
For club stalwart Ashley Mewburn’s 50th game, it seems fitting the number was replicated on the right side of the scoreboard.
The Goulburn DIrty Reds Women have opened their year with a 50-0 win over Easts, running in eight tries in a strong early showing.
While the club rightly celebrated Mewburn’s milestone, their focus was getting the 2026 season off on the right foot after the disappointment of last year.
An under-strength Easts side were valiant throughout the match, and certainly didn’t make things easy for Goulburn. The opening minutes of the game were a tussle, until Josephine O’Brien opened the scoring for the Reds with a trademark scything run. The Reds doubled their lead shortly afterwards, when Jasmine Bes showed outstanding pace out wide to run in a long range try and bring up 100 career points for the club.
Goulburn will be particularly pleased with the contributions from their younger players. Bobby Remington, Emma Seaman, and Bridie Shipp were outstanding across the park, and you wouldn’t know it was Seaman’s or Shipp’s first senior game of rugby. Seaman laid on some strong defence throughout the game, but also showed incredible vision from the scrum base to scoot through a gap to score.
There was no keeping Mewburn out of the game. The former Brumbies playmaker may have finally realised her dream of playing in the front row, but showed plenty of those silky passing skills in a linking role. She also crossed for a first half try, which she converted.
Mewburn blotted her copy book late in the game with two missed field goals, which should see her heavily fined at the next club court session.
While many players had outstanding games, it was a newcomer who stood out on the field. Second rower Sarah Pilcher played like someone who’d been around for seasons, mixing up strong runs with solid defence, earning her the Players’ Player and 3 Best and Fairest points. Seaman collected 2 B&F points, with flyhalf Nicole Waddle picking up 1.
New Women’s coach Ross Copland was happy with the first up result, coming off the back of a long pre-season campaign.
“Today was a great start for the girls, especially given we didn’t have any trial matches this year,” Copland said.
“It was basically our first stint together, with all our new players and starting players all coming together. We’ve got people who haven’t played rugby before and who played their first game today, and I’m really, really impressed with how it all went down today.
“It was a great foundation for the rest of the season, and we’ve got players who can come in and out of that starting team. Everyone is putting their hand up to get picked for a starting spot.”
The win sees Goulburn sit atop the Women’s 10s Suburban Conference, setting up a 1 v 2 match up against the Tuggeranong Viqueens at Viking Park next week.
Goulburn Dirty Reds Women 50 (Seaman 2, Bes, O’Brien, Mewburn, Remington, Shipp, Waddell tries, Seaman 2, Waddell 2, Mewburn con) defeated Easts Women 0.
