Albany’s Great Southern Breakers rolled onto the national stage this month at the Great Southern Slam in Adelaide, taking on fierce interstate competition in Australia’s biggest roller derby tournament.

The Great Southern Slam brings together some of the top roller derby teams in the country from across Australia and New Zealand to compete in a three-day tournament, which is held at a different location every two years.

This year, the tournament was held from June 6 to 8 at the Adelaide Showgrounds, with 41 teams playing a total of 54 games.

Albany Roller Derby League president Natalie Jarvis said big events like the Slam provided regional teams an opportunity to test their strength against strong interstate and international competition.

The Breakers played in two games across the tournament weekend, going up against the Geelong Roller Derby League and South Australia’s Rockabellas.

In their first game of the tournament against Geelong, the Breakers were defeated 217-67 after a hard-fought game.

Cassandra Fletcher and Lia Nicholson were named the Breakers’ best players.

In their second game, the Rockabellas managed to snatch the win, with the Breakers going down 173-102.

Jarvis and Chia-Hsuan Tung were crucial for the Breakers in the loss.

The Breakers were busy before the interstate tournament, fundraising more than $9000 to make it possible for team members to get to Adelaide and compete.

Jarvis said the support of the City of Albany, Albany community, local businesses, sponsors, volunteers, families and supporters all came together to back the team’s ambition of attending the tournament.

“Every donation, every raffle ticket purchased and every message of support helped get us to Adelaide,” she said.

“As a regional team, opportunities like this require a huge amount of commitment both on and off the track.

“We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who believed in us and helped make this journey possible.”

Co-captain Michelle Backhouse said the experience was invaluable for the team.

“Great Southern Slam is the pinnacle event for roller derby in Australia,” she said.

“Competing against interstate teams gives us the chance to benchmark ourselves, learn, grow and continue developing as athletes and as a team.

“We’re proud to represent Albany and the Great Southern region on a national stage.”

Roller derby will return to Albany in August and October this year, with home games hosted at the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre.