"It's the tackling." That is how player Eileen Byers explains the growing popularity of women's rugby league, during a carnival in Lismore on the New South Wales north coast over the weekend.
Now in its second year, the competition attracted 10 teams from the region — up from eight last year — as well as hundreds of spectators.
Ms Byers, who plays for Casino's Wahlabul Dubays, said it was a nerve-wracking experience before the first tackle.
"First you get excited that you're playing, but then you're also nervous," she said.
"But once you get that first tackle in you're right. I think you need that first tackle when you're so nervous."
Playing with family members also helped calm the nerves.
"We're all cousins and family, we're all from the Casino community, we get along quite well."
The Northern NSW Local Health District launched the competition last year as an initiative to reduce smoking rates and improve health in the Indigenous community.
For Ms Byers's team mate Ashley Day, playing in the competition has been central to managing her depression.
"I kind of lock myself away, so getting out there, playing and meeting new people brought me out of my shell, so it had a huge impact," she said.
As part of the smoke-free initiative, this year players wore anti-smoking slogans on their jerseys.
NSW Health's Jillian Adams said organisers wanted to get the message across that smoking did not mix with sport.
"Young people from the age of about 16-plus, that's the time they start to experiment, so we want to nip that in the bud," she said.
Ms Day said as well as helping with her depression, playing rugby league had also helped her lose 6 kilograms.
"Physically I wasn't that healthy before playing, and I was overweight," she said.
"I always had that thought I wanted to get fit, to feel good about myself, and for my daughter to get her into fitness, just healthy living."
Ms Day also agrees about the power of tackling.
"To run out there and it just feels good to get that anger out when you're tackling," she said.
The growing popularity of women's rugby league in the north coast Aboriginal community is reflected more broadly in national statistics.
The NRL said female participation was on track for 30 per cent growth this year, and it remained the fastest-growing segment in rugby league.
