She has only been refereeing rugby league for the past two years, but already Bec Rogers has made a huge impression.
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The Orange woman has been selected in the match official squad for the NRL's National Women's Championship to be held later this month in Queensland.
Although she was excited to be a part of the crew, Rogers admitted she had to ask around to find out what exactly the tournament was.
"I spoke to a couple of people saying I hadn't heard of the women's champs before, asking what is it, what's involved," she said.
"I called the head coach who is looking after it to really ask how the hell did I get selected. I just tried to investigate it as much as possible."
But before she was an ace league official, she was blowing her whistle in a different code.
"I started refereeing touch football in 2014. I did that and went through the levels, went to the World Cup in 2019 and after I came back I wanted a new challenge," Rogers said.
"I have a heap of skills refereeing so I decided to go into league. I started on league tag, some junior games and worked my way up."
Although the two sports are quite similar, there are some intricate details she had to learn pretty fast.
"The difference is obviously that it is a contact sport and that's probably what I struggled with a little bit," she added.
"In touch footy, the hard touch you penalise whereas in league... it is what it is. I haven't had too many issues in regard to the laws, it's more the processing times. But the more games I do the quicker it comes."
The tournament will take place from May 20 to 23, with Rogers travelling up the day before.
While she is hopeful this can be a stepping stone, Rogers understands there are some factors outside her control.
"I'm female at 32 and it does make it a little bit more difficult because they do focus a bit more on the younger ones that probably have a bit more time to build their career," she said.
"But really for me the sky's the limit. I'll push it as far as I can. I look at it and think NRL is unrealistic, but to potentially reach the women's games that are based in Sydney is definitely a goal."
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