Paige McMullen loving her AFL odyssey with Kangaroos

McMullen joined the Tamworth Kangaroos in their second season after being "roped into it" by older sister Shannon Campbell, who was one of the driving forces in establishing the women's side.

She almost played the first year but talked herself out of it.

"I came to the come-and-try day the first year and after that I was like maybe not," McMullen said.

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But when the next season rolled around she thought: "I'm going to do it, I'm going to try".

"I went to the Crossroads Cup. I thought this will make me or break me," she said.

"I took a hard hit from one of the hard players from Moree and got sat up on my bum, but got up and was like 'that was alright, I'm good, I'm ready to go'."

Her first competition game was incidentally against the Suns.

"I still remember it. I was straight away I love this," she said.

A big part of that was the club and the way everyone got around each other.

Nine years Shannon's junior, the 20-year old said getting to play with her was pretty special. She also got to play alongside sister-in-law Teoni Williams - the three winning a premiership together in McMullen's first season (2018).

It is a bit of a family affair with her brother and brother-in-law playing for the Roos' men's side.

Asked what the biggest thing to get her head around initially was, McMullen said probably the contact.

Her only previous experience of any football code was a season of league tag, which she didn't really enjoy.

Originally from Dubbo, she has lived in Tamworth for about 14 years.

In her final year of nursing studies, she is this year part of the Roos leadership group, which she is loving.

After not being able to field a side in last year's COVID-shortened season, the club has welcomed a lot of new faces this year, which she said has been "nice to see".

"We've pretty much started from scratch this year. We've had a heap of new girls which is good and we've really built well as a team," McMullen said.

The encouraging part of that too is that they have picked up quite a few younger players.

"Hopefully they'll stick around," she said.

At the moment they are playing a waiting game with the competition suspended amid the COVID-crises engulfing the state and subsequent lockdowns.

The Roos were only hours away from taking the field against Tamworth rivals the Swans in their minor semi-final when the senior games were called off in the wake of Armidale going into a lockdown.

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