NRL clubs' all-girls home provides learning space for teen talent

A group of aspiring young athletes is participating in a ground-breaking programme led by a National Rugby League (NRL) club.

These seven girls have moved from Auckland into a first-ever girls’ home, supported by the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in Sydney.

The club has employed Tarsh Poching-Ieremia as the “house mum” to support the girls while they are in Sydney.

“I was coming over with my 15-year-old daughter, who plays for the Lisa Fiola Cup for the Bulldogs, and this opportunity came up," Poching-Ieremia said.

"The club decided to get a house for the girls, and they needed a house mum.

“I saw how good it would be for the girls, and I just took it on, (we) discussed everything that was involved in it because it was new not just for the club but for the game (to have a girl's house like this).

“We had a lot of meetings and discussions before we came here. The house has girls who have no family from Sydney and are all originally from Auckland.”

The girls are contracted to the Bulldogs’ Tarsha Gale (U19s) and Lisa Fiola Cup (U17s) squads for the 2025 season, which kicks off on 1 February.

Photo/Supplied

Poching-Ieremia believes this is a significant step forward for the young Pasifika girls.

“When I stepped into this space, not only did I step into it as a house mum, but also a mum as one of the athletes and a parent.

“I know how hard it is as Pasifika for us parents to let our children go in these opportunities. Sometimes, what holds us back from letting us go is that we’re their safety, and we want to make sure they’re safe all the time.

“In this case here, it’s such an honour and privilege to be their house mum and for their parents to trust me with them.”

Learning together

The girls are now in their second week of living away from home, navigating the challenges of independence while learning new skills.

Poching-Ieremia says it is important for the girls to learn life skills alongside their sporting pursuits.

“When we first moved into the house, we had our first flat meeting, and we set the rules of our house and the expectations, just so we were all on the same respect for each other.

The girls at the Bulldogs HQ. Photo/Provided.

“We set up our roster for cooking. When we first moved, I was like, my name is not Geoffrey, and this is not Bel Air. I'm not here to serve you. We're going to do it together,” she chuckles.

“So we cook together, we have a cleaning roster, and everything's been going really well so far.”

Poching-Ieremia praised the girls for their remarkable sense of responsibility after their initial move.

“The girls have been amazing. I think if I were a parent in New Zealand, one of my girl's parents, I'd be worried sick thinking, 'Will they be okay? Will they know how to handle it?' Because a lot is going on, but they're so resilient.

“When we were setting up our house, I let them set it up, and how they wanted to do it, and just kind of sat back and just watched them.

“The proudest thing for me was watching them do things that their mums would usually do without even being asked, and I don't even think that it clicked for them that they were actually doing things that they had watched their mums do ... these girls have been raised so well.”