What a difference a year can make.
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At the outset of 2023, Emily Ryan was a young newcomer to the Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters' league tag lineup.
The then-16-year-old had been encouraged to take up the sport through connections in Oztag. And, ultimately, she elected to go to the Roosters because of the club's former first grade hooker, Kurt Hartmann.
"Half of the Oztag girls went to Dungowan and half of them went to Kooty," she said.
"The reason I chose Kooty was because Kurt Hartmann worked at Tamworth High, and he got me to come and play out here."
She made the jump, though it was not an easy transition at first.
Ryan spent her first year with the club "getting into it". It was only towards the back end of the season that she began to find her feet.
2024, however, has proven to be a different beast altogether. The confidence she began to build at the tail end of last year has only continued to grow.
"Last year I didn't really have any goals, I just wanted to prove myself to [coach Jeff Faint]," Ryan said.
"I don't think I got many tries last year, but this year I think I've scored every game. And in the first game of the season, I got three tries."
So much so that, when fullback Kynesha Fuller was injured early in the game against the Dungowan Cowgirls in Dungowan on Saturday, the 17-year-old centre didn't hesitate when coach Jeff Faint asked her to fill the gap.
"I played fullback last week, which was fine," she said.
"I'm pretty used to it by now, I love playing fullback. It's good to have a lot of runs."
It was a smart move from the coach. The Roosters won 24-4 in a game that was much more competitive than the scoreline showed, and continued their unbeaten start to the year.
Ryan, Faint said, was excellent in her short-notice role and earned two Best and Fairest points for her efforts.
"She's been training there, and I thought she did a fantastic job," he said.
"She cleaned up a lot of stuff out the back and brought the ball back well."
To those who know her, the maturity Ryan shows on the field should come as no surprise. The former Tamworth High student decided early in Year 11 that school "wasn't for me".
So, instead, the Tamworth product picked up a job making benchtops at That's Tops by Design, which her parents own.
"I'd rather work, honestly, than go to school," Ryan said.
The pragmatism and drive to go her own way have obviously served Ryan off the field as well as on it.
And she, like so many of her Roosters teammates, feels fuelled to succeed this year after their grand final heartbreak in 2023.
"I feel like all of us girls have come into this year knowing what we want," Ryan said.
"What happened last year was pretty devastating for us. But we know what we want this year, and I feel like we'll be able to do it."
