To hear Hannah Skewes eloquently and passionately detail the experience of finally getting the chance to fulfil her dream of playing rugby league is confronting.
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Confronting in the sense that you're left wondering: why did it take so long to realise?
Instead of just watching it, you get to experience what it's actually like - and it's very tough
As a member of the Uralla Tigers’ squad in season two of Group 4’s women’s nines competition, Skewes is experiencing what she had longed for since childhood, and is savouring it as though it were a precious gift.
For her, the game has lived up to the hype.
“It’s so much fun to play,” she said. “League tag isn’t the same excitement – it’s not the same game. It’s just not. It’s [rugby league] totally different, but it’s a good difference.
“I’m not saying everyone likes to go out and have a smash battle – it’s a physical battle. Not only a physical battle against a team – a physical battle against yourself.
“It’s so much more strenuous than league tag. You have to push yourself to a level you never go to in league tag … It’s a lot more full-on than league tag.”
Skewes and her Tigers teammates contested round two of the three-round competition at Tamworth Rugby Park on Saturday. The five teams – Werris Creek, North Tamworth, Bendemeer and South West also played – endured a dismal rainy day.
It mattered not.
Skewes said: “We’ve worked so hard to get to this level. We just want to have a game.
“It doesn’t matter what the weather is doing – we just want to go out and play footy.”
Uralla drew 4-4 with Werris Creek in their first game, before losing 14-12 to competition leaders North Tamworth. The Tigers sit third on the ladder.
“Nobody bothered to run anything for us [previously]. Now is the time for us to step up and play,” Skewes said.
