Rosie Price (left) and Olive Cavanagh (right) played fantastic in their trip to Canberra.
From July 14 – 18, 10-year-old Harden girls Rosie Price and Olive Cavanagh travelled to Canberra to compete in the annual Kanga Cup competition for the Under 11s female Wagga City Wanderers team. Normally, both girls play together in the Harden Soccer Club Under 9/10s team, putting plenty of new eyes on the Harden players.
Rosie represents the South West region in the SWSSA Under 12s mixed rep team and was invited to join the Wagga City Wanderers for the Kanga Cup. Olive trains and plays regularly with the Wagga City Wanderers in their Skills Acquisition Program (SAP).
The Kanga Cup is the biggest youth soccer tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, with over five thousand 9 – 18 year olds playing. It is held in the July school holidays in Canberra every year. In 2025, Wagga City Wanderers entered 19 teams in the Kanga Cup. The Wagga City Wanderers Under 11s female team were undefeated after seven pool games, beating teams from regional and metropolitan NSW, including Northbridge FC, Easts FC, Woden Valley and Majura FC.
The girls faced the Far Mid North Coast Dolphins in the Grand Final last Friday and successfully won 2-0.
Mother of Olive, Jess Cavanagh, said, “Olive plays as the team’s striker and scored a total of 18 goals for the week.
“Olive was also named as Player of the Match in Friday’s Grand Final after scoring both goals in that match.”
“Rosie was an absolute asset to the team, playing almost every position on the field with enthusiasm and tenacity, and scoring some valuable goals.”
Rosie was awarded one of the team’s best and fairest awards for the week, receiving a game ball signed by all players and coaches and said, “I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to play my favourite sport for a whole week. It’s been an amazing opportunity playing girls from all over the country as well as getting to know all the girls from Wagga in my team and building great connections and friendships along the way.
“It’s just been a great way to spend my holidays, and I feel like I need a rest”. Olive herself said, “The Kanga Cup is a great opportunity for young soccer players to grow. It’s also so fun spending the week with friends and getting to do fun things around Canberra. “We played some pretty tough matches, but nothing felt too tough for us because we worked so well as a team. “My job on the pitch is to score goals, but I couldn’t do it without the whole team pulling together.”
Both Rosie and Olive will play the remainder of the season in Harden, where their team has won all except for 2 games. They will also both compete in a Gala Day in Griffith in August with their respective representative sides.
– Jack Murray
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