Teams
The National Indigenous Men's program has a rich history and was the foundation that Lloydies was built on. For over 20 years the LMRDT men's teams have been touring the globe to combine International Rugby games with cultural and social experiences. Teams have toured to South Africa, Argentina, Thailand, Hong Kong, The Philippines, New Zealand. In 2014 teams contested the Hong Kong and Manila 10's, with the trip to Manila also involving an annual visit to an orphanage- the Tuloy Foundation- where the players bring clothing from Australia to donate to the residents.
In 2015 for the first time the National Indigenous Men's team will play in the Australian Sevens Championships which will be held at NSW Sport and Rec in Narrabeen on Sydney's Northern Beaches. The tournament will pit the best Sevens players in the country against one another with the hope of a spot in the Australian team in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The LMRDT compete each year with a representative team in the National Women’s 7s Championships. The first tournament to include a National Indigenous team was held in Canberra in March and saw great success for the “Lloydettes” who got better and better as the tournament went on, to eventually beat The Australian Barbarians Team on their second encounter to win the Plate final 33-5.
From that tournament team Captain Tallisha Harden and winger Taleena Simon were invited to train with the Australian Womens Sevens team with Taleena Simon eventually being offered a professional contract with the team, becoming the first Aboriginal women ever to do so.In 2015 the Australian Womens 7s team now has 3 Indigenous members- Mahalia Murphy, Tanisha Stanton and Taleena Simon.
The National Indigenous Schoolboys Sevens team has seen a lot of success since it was formed in 2012, particularly because- like all of the Lloyd McDermott team's- the team is made up of kids from around the country that have never played before and don't get the opportunity to train together prior to tournaments.
For the last 3 years the team has contested the Scots Schoolboys Sevens winning the tournament back to back in 2012 and 2013 and were unlucky to be bundled out in the semi finals by hosts Scotts in 2014.
Lloyd McDermott's Schoolgirls Rugby 7's program began in December 2013 with a camp for talented athletes held in Alice Springs. Over 50 schoolgirls were selected from hundreds of nominations to take part in the camp which brought together the budding athletes, Australian Team coaches and National Team members Emilie Cherry, Charlotte Caslick, Alicia Quirk and Shannon Parry.
The girls learnt the basics of the game from the best in the world and completed their Smart Rugby certification- Australian Rugby's Occupational Health & Safety program which helps to provide a safe environment for all players at all levels.
The camp proved a great success and unearthed a lot of promising talent with Caitlin Moran, Jasmine Allende and Akeisha Kelly selected for the Youth Olympics Training Squad, with Caitlin Moran eventually going on to represent Australia in the gold medal winning Youth Olympic Team.