While she's one of the best-known faces around the traps at the Emus Rugby Union Club, exercise physiologist, Lisa Onley often goes (contently) undetected in the praise department.

"A lot of people don't know it, but the amount of work and planning Lisa does outside of actually seeing the players, is huge," coach of the club's women's side, Alex Walker said.

"Tailoring the girls' fitness and warm-ups, constantly coming up with new training methods, researching injuries, taking the time to modify drills for those injured and what's within peoples' capabilities - it allows us to always keep moving forward, even if the girls don't realise it."

After attaining a Bachelor in Exercise Science and then her Masters in Exercise Physiology, Miss Onley landed her first professional gig in 2017 with Orange's private practice, RPT Health Group.

She was then linked to the Emus club through her bosses, premiership-winning super coaches, Jeremy Wallace and Paul Ringland.

"It was like a volunteer side gig - helping with strapping, making sure people were where they needed to be and just supporting players from the sideline," Lisa Onley said.

"Then, that eventually lead into 2021, where I came on as the S&C [strength and conditioning] coach for the women's team."

Having never worked in the world of team sports prior, and moreover - with a group of women who play a full-contact sport - Miss Onley says she loves watching how the game of rugby forms unique connections between players.

Describing it as "inspirational", the exercise physiologist says not only is she passionate about the fact that exercise is fundamental for both physical and mental health, she also feels humbled to be in an era where more and more, women are starting to "have a place" in the heavily male-dominated sport.

"It's admiring, because it goes against 'the norms'," Miss Onley said.

"I guess, subconsciously, we've always been in this realm where women in sport is not 'a thing', so it's nice that a) we have a whole women's team and a competition for us to play in, and that b) we've got women - who are aged from 16 and up to 50 - all playing a social sport together.

"It's inspirational and it's only going to progress from here."

Managing varying temperaments, abilities and skillsets when coaching teams is also a big part of the role, Miss Onley says, with a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved.

Strength and conditioning trainers also incorporate a whole range of other professional and social tools, allowing them to effectively manage large groups of athletes.

"You have this general trajectory where you want your team to go and it'd be easy if you could give everyone the same treatment to succeed, but it's far more than that," Miss Onley said.

"There's a lot of rapport-building with players, different communication techniques and knowing the type of person you're working with - what they enjoy, what they don't like, what drives them - and we do that in order to have their best reflecting through their training."

"We're also consistently seeing more women in physio and strength and conditioning roles in professional teams; it's becoming more common now [and] I like to think I'm just paving the way for younger generations to feel comfortable in playing an amalgamated sport."

Feeling secure is something that head coach Alex Walker says Miss Onley naturally imprints on the ladies side, with many of the women seeking comfort in her.

"She's the girls go-to person, she's brilliant to talk to and I know that our girls feel so comfortable leaning on her," Miss Walker said.

"Whether they need to chat about rugby or personal struggles, she's definitely another leader for them to lean on - she's so in tune with all of the girls, it's incredibly impressive."

The "go-to" girl is also someone known widely around the club for her supportive nature, high-energy and positive demeanor across the board, which Miss Walker describes as an incalculable asset.

"We spend a few hours planning each and every training session and game structure, it's very handy to be able to bounce ideas off her in length," she said.

"She's also a very positive person to have around the club and her energy is infectious to so many players.

"I'd honestly be lost without her by my side."

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