It's going to take Taneka Todhunter a little while to get used to calling herself a Sydney Roosters player.
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And not just because she's been a South Sydney Rabbitohs fan all her life.
The 17-year-old from Dubbo will wear the red, white and blue of the Roosters this weekend after earning a spot in the club's Tarsha Gale Cup squad.
"I'm happy to be playing for the Roosters but kind of shocked to say I play for them," she laughed.
"But it's a big opportunity and I'm very happy."
The cup is a NSW Rugby League nines competition featuring the best under 18s players in the state and is a stepping stone towards the NRLW.
The Roosters are represented in the competition by their Indigenous Academy side and that's who Todhunter will run out with on Saturday at Henson Park in Marrickville.
While it was a little tricky at first going from the west of the state to mix it with many city-based players she's never met before, Todhunter said the efforts of her family and the club has made it easy for her to fit in and adapt.
"It's been a bit tough but I'm so thankful for my family taking me everywhere and the girls there have let me stay over some night after training," she said.
"The girls are so nice and the coaches have been very welcoming."
Todhunter will play hooker for the Roosters and has been named to come off the bench in Saturday's game against the Bulldogs.
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And she can't wait to get out on the field.
"That first contact," she said of what she's looking forward to.
"Because you get nervous and you want to perform to your best but once you get that first contact it will be good.
"Then you can stop thinking about what could happen and think about the game and your responsibility.
"I think it's going to be a challenge but it's going to be good to get a feel of what the step higher is."
Taking that contact, playing against the best players, and being part of one of the most recognisable sporting clubs in the country.
It's all something Todhunter has always wanted.
"But it was more just a question of when," she said, with her 18th birthday later this month.
"We saw the Roosters were having trials on Facebook so I thought I might as well go and if I missed out I'd just try again next year."
There she showed the kind of skills which have wowed fans around the region in recent years, whether she was in the colours of Dubbo CYMS, thew Wiradjuri Goannas, or Western Rams.
Her natural talents are one thing, but another factor in her success is the foundation of knowledge developed by the blossoming Western Women's Rugby League program.
"Definitely playing with the Rams last year helped," she said.
"The stuff the [Roosters] do is kind of what we did and that helped in a sense. I already knew it all, I just needed to keep it in my head."
While Todhunter may only be a teenager she hoped her efforts would prove its possible for players to make it in the city despite being based in regional areas.
The Tarsha Gale Cup begins this week, with the season consisting of nine rounds and then finals.
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Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
