Yuin Snakes will have to wait until October to strike

Port Stephens was set to host the annual event but due to the significant rain in recent weeks, the Hunter region has closed sporting fields making travel to the region unsafe.

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Nations of Origin is a multifaceted sport, cultural, education and leadership program which usually culminates during NAIDOC week.

The event, which has grown every year since its inception, will see more than 1300 young people from across NSW representing their Aboriginal Nation over a four-day competition where they will compete in rugby league, netball, football fives, basketball and for the first time, gymnastics.

The local Yuin Snakes footy teams have seen significant success in recent years at Nations of Origin, consistently making the top four in a tournament where more than 20 different nations are represented.

While it was disappointing for the young athletes to not be going away next Monday, they still remain just as excited about going later in the year, with the added practice time ensuring their team play and chemistry to be even better when it comes to October.

Yesterday the teams got together to run through some training and workshops, opening the day with a talk by former NRL player and Group Seven operations manager Ashton Sims.

Sims echoed the importance of the tournament and the fantastic opportunities that all of the athletes have access to.

After the talk, he presented the local PCYC with a cheque made up from the proceeds from the Group Seven all-star game earlier this year which will go towards the Yuin Snakes trip later this year.

You could sense the excitement amongst the teams despite the postponement.

While the PCYC Nations of Origin is a sport-focused event, it's much more than that with the week- long program promoting education, reconciliation, sharing of culture and embracing of cultural identity.

Boys' coach Nathaniel Morrison said he's seen significant growth in the event since he first joined the coaching ranks in 2017.

"It's grown two-fold since I first joined and the kids are just great. Every year it's a different group we've taken away and it's always just a great time," Morrison said.

"The best part about it I think is the opening ceremony where the two captains of the girls and boys team line up with their flags and do the march pass."

"The smiles on their faces, everyone cheering, it's just a really, really good start to the tournament."

Girls coaches, Talia Atfield and Aimee Lonesborough have been super impressed with the maturity and camaraderie of the girls team so far.

"The girls really get along, most of them already play footy against one another or with each other, they're just a really good group of girls," Lonesborough said.

"Yeah they're extremely mature," Atfield added.

"We've got one coming from a private school in Sydney, we've got three coming from Canberra, so they've really been making an effort to come back whenever they can," Atfield said.

The two coaches also added on how great the talent pool has gotten in recent years, with it being an exceptionally exciting time for women's footy.

"I think the talent has gotten a lot better overall," Atfield said.

"There's just a lot more opportunities for women to play rugby league. There's that ultimate goal now,"

"You can actually be younger and have that dream of making it to the highest level, where as before that wasn't really an option."

Speaking about the event a spokesperson for PCYC said, "The good news is that we are only deferring the event and plans are already underway to reschedule Nations to run later in 2022."

"We will do our best to make sure we can hold it again this year so that our teams can once again come together to represent and celebrate their Aboriginal Nations in sport."