It confused the heck out of Symons, who initially thought Kay had the wrong number.

Her next thought was to assume Kay - a former Tigers skipper - might have been told Orange captain Jem Neuman and vice-captain Erin Naden would be unavailable for their next club game and Symons would take the reins in their place.

That's dealing in hypothetical in a huge way and, as it stands, isn't happening, but it's a fair indication of how far the real reason for that text was from Symons' mind.

In fact it never even crossed her mind.

After a few confused replies to and an explanation from Kay, Symons finally figured out what was going on - she's been named to lead Central West in the side's trip to Nowra to face the Sapphire Coast next month.

"Not in a million years," the unassuming Symons beamed, when asked if she'd ever expected to receive such an accolade.

"I've never been captain of anything before."

With a background in hockey as a goalkeeper, Symons was never appointed captain of any side due to the risk of send-off and her other grounding in martial arts comes without formal captaincy roles.

One thing's clear to anyone who's seen Symons around the Tigers' group though, she's one of the club's strongest leaders.

"I'm not the fittest and haven't had the most experience but I've got the voice to direct and lead," she said.

"It was really good feeling (but) I'm very nervous to be in the side let alone be captain on top of that."

There's plenty of excitement straddling those nerves though, and she'll have the benefit of fellow Tigers stars Neuman, Jacqui Harris, Seeanna Lindsay and Emilie Lowe also making the cut.

She admitted the person she's most excited to being around again is Kay though, who's now at the Bathurst Giants.

"I'm excited to have her as a coach for us, she was an excellent captain when she played for us at the Tigers and I miss her leadership," Symons said.

The selection of the side is an extension of last year's inaugural Intra-League Representative Fixture between the Northern Suns and Southern Thunder, and Symons went on to say she's excited to be handed an official leadership role.

She explained her focus in that role will be to make sure the entire side, which she rates highly, feels comfortable with one another.

"I want to make sure people don't feel nervous or afraid or like they don't know anyone, put people at ease," she said, the Giants' Katie Kennedy named to act as her deputy.

"I think we have a very good side and I'm really excited to see how we'll play together."

While she's expecting Kay to throw her into the backline, where she's more comfortable, she's build up the ability to play nearly anywhere.

"[Until] last year's north versus south representative game I'd only ever played at fullback and then I was put in the back pocket and I was lost, but now I have a bit more experience around the ground and playing in other roles," Symons said.

Central West comes together on June 23 and 30 for training sessions, at Orange and Bathurst respectively, before next month's clash.