FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where is Rabbitohs Tag played for Summer 2025-2026 ?
Souths Junior Oztag is an after school competition played at Heffron Park each week.
Rabbitohs Tag is played at Heffron Park.
MONDAYS- Heffron Park Rabbitohs Tag Girls Competition
THURSDAY – Heffron Park Rabbitohs Tag Boys Competition
How long does the Competition run for ?
RABBITOHS TAG START
GIRLS- 13th of October 2025
BOYS- 23rd of October 2025
LAST GAME OF THE SEASON
GIRLS- 15th December
BOYS- 29th of January 2026
SEMI FINALS
GIRLS- 2nd of February 2026
BOYS- 5th of February 2026
GRAND FINALS
GIRLS- 9th of February 2026
BOYS- 12th of February 2026
Which age group should my child play in ?
Age divisions are based on the 2026 calendar year for example any players turning 10 in 2026 will be in the under 10’s age group.
2020 (turning 6 in 2026) 6’s
2019 (turning 7 in 2026) – 7’s
2018 (turning 8 in 2026) – 8’s
2017 (turning 9 in 2026) – 9’s
2016 (turning 10 in 2026) – 10’s
2015 (turning 11 in 2026) – 11’s
2014 (turning 12 in 2026)- 12’s
2013 (turning 13 in 2026) – 13’s
2012 (turning 14 in 2026)- 14’s
2011 (turning 15 in 2026) – 15’s
2010/2009 (turning 16&17 in 2026) – 16&17’s
Mixed- (14-17 years, 2012-2009 – Mixed rules Monday night)
If you are born in 2008 or older you are classified as a senior and will need to play in the senior competition.
What are the terms and conditions of the competition?
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
What does my Child wear ?
Players will need to wear Official Oztag shorts/Tights to participate. Shorts can be purchased at the venue or online for $30.00 a pair
Teams arrange their own Team shirts.
How Long to games run for ?
Games run for 40minute timeslots. There are divided into 2 halves.
In instances of extreme heat, we may split the game into thirds or quarters, but teams will be notified before they take the field.
How many players are on the field? And how many players should I have in my team?
There are 8 players on the field per team so we recommend 10 players to a team. You can have more, but that gives your players less time on the field.
WHAT IS A REPRESENTATIVE PLAYER?
A representative player as any child who played in the NSW JUNIOR OZTAG STATE CUP or JUNIOR AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS for that year. We include all associations and regions regardless of their age.
Is there a limit on the number of Representative Players per team ?
Our association has a limit of 4 representative players per team to stay in your age group. Our max is 5 representative players, but your team will move up an age group (ie 11 year age group (2015 born) with 5 rep players will move up to the 12’s (2014 born) age group).
If you have a mixture of rep players of different ages, as with all our age groups, it goes by the age of your eldest player (ie a 12 year old team 2014 born with a mixture of 5, 11 and 12 year rep players will play up in the 13’s age group).
The only exception to this rule is our 16/17’s and Mixed comp (Monday night) where there is no representative limit.
We count a representative player as any child who played in the NSW JUNIOR OZTAG STATE CUP or JUNIOR AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS for that year. We include all associations and regions regardless of their age.
This limit was put in place to avoid representative players stacking teams, making it unenjoyable at park level.
We do not enforce this rule in an attempt to break up friends made through our representative teams, but rather to encourage our strongest talent to be spread across multiple teams. This will not only provide friendly competition between teams but allow our rep players to enjoy oztag with other friend groups whilst attracting new players to the sport.
Can I make sure my child is placed in the same team as a friend ?
We have no problem with making sure friends are placed together into the same team as long as they are eligible to play in the same division. If however, your child’s friend has played for a few years and is already in a set team, then you would need to speak to the Team Delegate of that team to see if there is room for your child to play as we cannot force the delegate to accept extra registrations.
Can I play in two teams in one competition?
We allow players to play in two teams in one competition, but, they need to be in two different age groups.
Ie, 11’s and 12’s.
You cannot play in two teams in the same age group. Once you hit 16/17 years (2010/2009 born), our ages are combined so you will only be able to play for one team.
Some of our teams play at the same time slots, ie 6-8’s for our boys and 6-10’s for our girls. We do allow players to play in two different teams in different age groups, but majority of the time we do encourage players not to do this IF the ages play at the same time each week.
What will end up happening is players will either need to pick the team they want to play for, or, play half a game per team each week. We find this is not fair to each team and not worth your money.
Can I make sure my child is placed with his/her sibling ?
If you register a full team then yes you can have younger players in your team. However they cannot be placed into a team if they are not the appropriate age unless the team you are joining accepts a younger player.
Will my child need to be graded ?
We grade teams from 11 years up after round 4 depending on skill level. We do this as we have teams made up from school class friends, winter sport teams (Netball, Rugby league, Rugby Union, Soccer etc) and from individuals signing up as well as Representative players. We want to make our competition fun and competitive for all players involved.
We do not grade our 6-10 years teams.
What does my child need to wear to play?
Every child needs to have Official Oztag Shorts or tights to play (cost $30.00) which are available at registration and at the venue. Players can wear whatever they like on top. We find teams like to be in unison, so it is quite common for a team to pick a coloured shirt, or get sublimated team shirts made, but that is completely up to your team.
No metal or screw in stud type shoes allowed. Moulded Touch football or soccer boots recommended, running shoes are allowed but not recommended due to poor grip.
Can I play in the Souths Seniors competition and still be eligible for Junior State Cup ?
No, you need to be a paid and registered player in a junior competition to be eligible for Junior State Cup. If you play in a senior competition, you are only eligible for senior rep teams.
Does my child need to attend training each week ?
No training days are scheduled for Oztag players. It is up to individual teams to arrange their own training days if they choose to do so. The majority of teams, do not train at all.
What time are the games ?
It will depend on how many teams are in the competition as to what time your childs games are each week . Divisions do not have set times as we receive Time Requests which may see teams playing early one week and later the following week . Time slots commence from 4.10pm.
Who and what is a manager?
They are your Team Contact . Managers are not coaches. They may help the team by substituting players during the game & usually at the beginning organize shirt colour and team shirts for the team. Some teams put too much pressure on the delegate believing they are there to coach the team. Remember they have kindly put their hand up and given up some time to be our point of contact to make life a little easier for the players/parents. Please offer them assistance.
Are parents allowed on the field to help the children who have not played before?
Yes, we allow one parent help out on the field for all ages under 10 years (little fields). However, coaches are to be mindful to encourage players to learn the game and not interfere too much with the game. You are there as a guide, nothing more. If we have an instance where your coach is becoming abusive and seen to scare the children (or referees), they will be asked to leave the field.
Are there any different rules depending on the age group?
We have amended rules for our ages 10years and below (little field)
AMENDED RULES FOR 10’S AND UNDER
- No marker allowed.
- Dummy half may run but if tagged a changeover will occur.
- Dummy half cannot score.
- Defensive line cannot move until the first receiver touches the ball or the dummy half runs.
Junior Fields (5 to 10 year olds)
50m x 35m (play across senior field)
Mixed rules differ slightly too (Monday night 2012-2009 born)
- Maximum of 4 boys on the field at once (you can play with more girls than boys if needed, generally there are 4 of each gender on the field at once).
- Girls tries are worth 2 points
- Girls kick off, not boys
I have signed my child up to play Oztag but don’t know what team he/she has been placed into?
Individual players signing up will be placed into teams once our registrations close. We need to insure that we are placing players into the right teams and into teams that need players. Players will be contacted by Leah with their team name and managers contact information. Please be patient, we will be in contact.
Does Souths Junior Oztag provide Coaches ?
Being a recreational sport, we do not supply coaches (with the exception of representative teams). We ask for parents to help by being a manager and in many cases, the managers of teams are Mums. We find in many cases that a parent will put their hand up to coach a team and in some cases we even have older siblings that also volunteer.
Who do I ring to advise that my child can’t make a game ?
You must ring and advise your team manager. Do not contact Souths Junior Oztag as we will not be able to be pass on the information due to the amount of calls and other responsibilities on the night.
We are short players, can we get a friend to fill in?
You can only have a player who is registered in that competition, and that player must be registered in a younger age group and not a representative player (unless approved by Leah/Vince). All fill ins must be approved by Leah/Vince before they take the field. Any team found playing a player that is not registered in our competition or registered in a higher age group will be disqualified for that round.
We have a few players away, what is the minimum number of players that can take the field?
You can take the field with 5 players. If you don’t have 5, then you will have to forfeit. Please let us know in advance if that is the case so we can notify your opponents.
Can girls play in the boys competition?
We allow girls to play in boy’s teams, but those parents of the girls need to be aware that they are playing against boys teams in a boys competition. We do not allow all girls teams to play in the boy’s competition and we do not allow girls to play in boys teams over the age of 12 years (2014 born). The main factor is safety. If your team is over 14 years old and want to play against boys, you can form a mixed team and play in our mixed competition on a Monday afternoon.
Do you cancel the games if it is very hot?
Only in extreme circumstances where the humidity and heat reach a critical point and it is dangerous to our players.
We are summer sport, so it is highly likely that the weather will be warm. In instances of heat under 37 degrees, we will reduce the games to quarters or thirds to ensure that the players are getting enough time to rest and hydrate.
Our fields are run by council, so if they close the grounds, then we cannot play. So we do our best not to cancel rounds in weather of 37 degrees and under.
Please do not have parents email us to pressure us to cancel. If you do not want your child playing in the heat, then you make that choice. It is not fair to put pressure on us, as we have other teams and the competition to consider.
Please see below Australian Oztag’s extreme weather policy and the SMA extreme heat policy which are our guidelines.
I want to use my active kids voucher to pay online, how do I use my voucher?
Your manager or Leah will send you a team code for you to register to our online system. There is an option to enter your Active Kids Voucher there and then pay the difference with a credit card.
If you have any questions that have not been answered on this page, please email us at southsjnrs@oztag.com.au and we will be happy to answer it for you