India Draper admits she's still "pretty nervous" ahead of her first season with Mudgee Dragons but on the field nothing has changed.
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Draper was named player of the day at the Western Challenge league tag carnival at Canowindra on Sunday, March 10.
Mudgee won five from five games and defeated Group 9 side Young Cherrypickers 12-0 in the final.
The former Parkes Spacecat and Forbes Magpies star has made the leap over to the Group 10 side to be closer to her partner's family and said she was finding her feet in a new environment.
"I was really nervous, I guess because it was my first hit out with the girls in Mudgee but I was very excited and pleased with the results that we had throughout the day," she said.
"I'm very much settling in. It's gonna take some time I think but my partner's got a lot of family and friends that play for Mudgee.
"It's exciting and I'm really looking forward to the year with Mudgee and I think yesterday only cements even more for me just how excited I am to play for the club.
"It's got such a good culture. We had so much support yesterday for a preseason event. So I'm definitely settling in but I'm still pretty nervous."
'Tough' conditions test teams
Tom Clyburn Oval saw 16 teams battle it out with Canowindra Tigers and Eugowra Geagles also making the final four.
Mudgee defeated the home side 4-0 while Young edged Eugowra 8-6 in the semi-finals.
With temperatures sitting above 30, Draper said it was a punishing preseason hit out.
"It was really tough if I'm being honest," she said.
"I think only being a month or so into preseason you don't have the endurance and fitness this early into the year.
"They were only 20 minute games, but it still was really hot and we ended up playing five games in quite a short period of time.
"So by the end of it we were really struggling but it was a pretty good performance in the final too, especially beating Young."
Impressive set-up at Glen Willow
Draper scored four tries for Parkes in the 2023 final against Orange Hawks and her off-season move to Mudgee is widely considered one of the best transfers in any Peter McDonald Premiership grade.
She said she was already impressed with the Dragons' program, especially coach Corey Stockton.
"Our coaching staff I must say had a massive impact on the way we played," she said.
"Corey Stockton, our coach, is amazing and he's really passionate about league tag and everything that we need to put in for the season.
'It is such a young and new team so I think having the stability of a coach who is really professional and knows what he's doing definitely got us through the day."
