It's been a wild year for Taneka Todhunter.
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The CYMS and Goannas star began 2020 with a spot on the Sydney Roosters Tarsha Gale Cup side but the competition's cancellation due to COVID-19 saw her return to Dubbo.
Her usual CYMS League Tag squad were unable to field a team this year due to Group 11 deciding not to progress with a season and the young rake has found herself wearing a completely different jersey in her latest on-field efforts.
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"I wasn't expecting to be wearing blue at all, but it's been good to keep playing with the girls," Todhunter said.
She's featured for the Macquarie Raidettes under 18s side in their entrance into the Group 10 competition this year.
The side, made up of a who's who of the Group 11 League Tag's younger players, got off to a rocky start, but are now sitting comfortably in third after finding their footing.
One factor helping Todhunter settle into the unusual role has been the benefit of a few familiar faces, with CYMS coach Kaitlyn Mason assisting with training and Maya Bayliss, a former St Johns teammate also appearing in the side.
"It has helped a little bit with adjusting, but we're actually all coming together really well now, I feel like those first couple of games we were trying to get used to everyone we were playing with," Todhunter said.
"It's all really gelling together now, it's had a big impact on our game and really helped us on gameday."
Nowhere did that show more than in the Raidettes recent 34 - 10 win over the Mudgee Dragons in which Todhunter notched up two tries.
Due to the late addition of the Raidettes to the competition, they meet Mudgee again this weekend, with back to back wins boosting Macquarie's chances of appearing in the finals.
"If we can communicate a little better, I think we'll do well, our talk's good but we just need to go that step above," Todhunter said.
"Everything else has been really good, our attack and defence have both been on point."
While starting slow has been a thorn in the Raidettes side this season, Todhunter says it's an area where they've already shown plenty of improvement, particularly after a back two-thirds against the Dragons.
"Not having played together for long did put up a barrier, we're still starting a bit slow, but nowhere near as we were at the start, we've been doing a good job of going out there, setting the pace and keeping that up all the way through," Todhunter said.
The Raidettes will return to Mudgee in round six, taking on the Dragons at Cahill Park on Sunday from 12.45pm.
