That was just how it was.

A small group of volunteers were doing all they could to help get the women's game off the ground.

"I remember that year. That was back when we played in Forbes ... we were just cementing it and getting things sorted," Kaitlyn Mason said.

"It was a bit of a challenge to get everything sorted and get people involved."

Now things couldn't be more different.

From those humble beginnings, Western is now the undoubted force in the women's game after the region's representative sides won both the Lisa Fiaola Cup under 17s and open-age Country Championships grand finals on Saturday, March 16.

When a young Bec Smyth told people she was pursuing a career in contact sport she was looked at "like the oddest person".

Now, Smyth is part of a rugby league community in the western area which is the envy of most around the state.

A former Australian representative who played at three rugby union World Cups, 39-year-old Smyth captained the Western Rams women's senior side to Country Championships glory at Woy Woy.

That result secured the country women's double for Western after the Mason-coached under 17s side had won the Lisa Fiaola Cup decider just hours earlier.

The 28-12 win over the North Coast Bulldogs was a memorable moment, but the chance to be part of the booming rugby league scene in the western area is most special to Smyth.

"There's just passion from the girls," she said.

"When I first started playing and I would talk to women about playing a contact sport they would like at me like I was just the oddest person.

"But now there are so many who are loving it and they see it's not just about tackling each other and contact.

"It's about the skill of the game and strategy and the socialisation with other people as well."

Smyth had never played rugby league before joining up with Group 11 for the inaugural Western Women's Rugby League competition in 2018.

A nines competition was started in Dubbo in 2016 and that was the introduction to contact version of the game for most women in the region.

The first nines competition attracted players from Dubbo, Wellington, Forbes, Baradine, Walgett, Bathurst and Condobolin.

The inaugural WWRL competition featured Group 11, Group 10, Woodbridge and Castlereagh-Barwon open-age and under 18s side and it has steadily grown ever since.

The 2023 version featured seven clubs and had five divisions from under 12s up to opens.

"I was playing for the Goannas (in the WWRL) and I had a year off about four years ago," Smyth said.

"And then when I came back the level had just jumped so much. They'd obviously spent so much time with the girls coming through and now you can see the girls that are starting young and they're just getting better and better each year.

"Now it's not just you see a girl who's the best in the team because she's the fastest and gets through because no one can tackle her. Everyone has the ability to score tries but everyone is defending and they have that game sense.

"It's got so much better the last couple of years just by constantly having this competition."

Mason started out as a player in the early years of the WWRL but an injury led her to the coaching side of the game and she hasn't looked back.

In the early days of her coaching career it was "about the basics" as girls were learning to tackle and pass properly but in the Lisa Fiaola Cup grand final the Western side was running the type of plays you would expect at the top level.

"Over the years the game has evolved and as a coach you've had to evolve as well," Mason said.

"The players are evolving both on the field and off it and that knowledge of footy. As coach you can send out messages and then trainers come back and say we didn't need to say much because they already knew what they needed to do.

"They can identify what they need to work on during the game at such a young game. It's amazing to see."

She might not have been at Woy Woy on Saturday for the grand finals, but Jess Skinner's impact on the Western sides was clear.

Skinner was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the WWRL while she was also the inaugural Western Rams women's tackle coach.

Skinner is now the NRL's pathways strategy manager, having previously headed up the First Nationals Gems and the NRL Indigenous Women's Academy.

Skinner also became the first women's All Stars coach this year and led the Indigenous All Stars to victory over their Maori counterparts.

She still calls Trangie and the western area home and spent time with the Western senior side in the lead-up to the Country Championships.

"We've got some really passionate people that are driving this," Smyth said of Western's success.

"Jess Skinner is a fantastic role model in that area of rugby league and I love that.

"There's passion across the board. Especially with people like our coach Kevin Grimshaw. He's the coach of the Bathurst side (Panorama Platypi) and I'd never met him prior to this.

"He just loves the game and you can just tell that with everything he does."

Mason is quickly becoming another of those instrumental figures and marking herself as a coach to watch in the coming years.

She owes much of her success to Skinner for showing that it can be done while also always being available for some advice.

"When I grew up in Dunedoo there was nothing," Smyth said of her early days in sport.

"I played netball the whole time and I remember seeing what I think was a local rugby union competition in Dubbo and I asked my mum to drive me across. I really wanted to play but I was never allowed.

"But now I can see these younger girls have got opportunities that I never had. My daughter is 11 and she plays and just loves it."

As someone who's reached the top level of her chosen sport in the past, Smyth replied "My God, of course they can" when asked if current Western stars could go on to the heights of the NRLW.

Mason has no doubt either, having already seen one player she previously coached - Dubbo's Taneka Todhunter - debut for the Parramatta Eels last season.

Todhunter was at Woy Woy for the grand finals on Saturday and presented the under 17s players with their jerseys prior to the match.

"There's girls coming through that will definitely make their make in the game," Mason said.

"Taneka came and presented the jerseys and spoke about hard work and she was traveling to Sydney three times a week as a 16 or 17-year-old and that was massive.

"Just to show it can be done and the pathways now are amazing. Especially the girls in our team, they definitely have the ability to go a long way in rugby league. There's no doubt about it and it's just a matter of when, not if."