When Christie Chapman arrived in Gunnedah last year she took a big bite out of the town's juicy sports culture.
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She tasted success playing in the Red Devils' premiership-winning sevens side in 2019 - and now she is endeavouring to do the same with the Bulldogs.
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The 29-year-old from Warren is among a special batch of women who answered the call and were part of a team's birth this year.
Last Saturday at Wolseley Oval, the ruckman and her teammates sang the Bulldogs' team song for the first time when the women's side won their first-ever match.
"It was so much fun," she said of the singing experience. "I think everyone got a good giggle out of that one."
With a charming self-deprecating air and an infection laugh that was on repeat for this interview, Chapman - aka Chapdaddy or the more routine Chapelli - is an easy person to like.
She arrived in Gunnedah in May last year, with her partner Bruce Cockburn, whom she has been with seven years. The code-hopper is manager of Cotton Growers Services, while Cockburn is a mechanic at Peel Valley Machinery.
"You'll have to ask him," she said, laughing, when asked if there were wedding bells around the corner.
The couple relocated to Gunnedah for Chapman's career. She agreed that Cockburn was a modern man. "We just want to be part of the community - it's great," she said of life in Gunnedah.
I guess it's like being a big bully.
- Christie Chapman
Chapman played in the Bulldogs' first two games this season, but will miss their away trip to Moree on Saturday. Like many of her teammates, she had not played AFL before this year.
She described the side's incipient crew as being like children, which the Bulldogs' coaching staff were "so supportive and really, really easygoing about". She described her ruck role as "like being a big bully."
Gunnedah president Hamish Russell said Chapman was the Bulldogs' "voice of reason" - "someone all club members turn to when they need advice".