'I love the aggression': Appleby gets physical on Roos debut

And that's exactly what Lauren Appleby loves about it.

The Moree resident has two older brothers, with whom she grew up playing rugby league in the back yard.

"I'm used to being tackled a bit," Appleby said.

"My brother always pushed me around a little bit, so you get that toughness in you to just keep going on the footy field.

"I love the aggression."

Appleby, who played her first game for the Tamworth Kangaroos on Saturday, clearly relished her time on field.

She transferred to the Tamworth team from the Moree Suns after their women's side folded earlier this season.

It was "disappointing" not to be able to represent her hometown, Appleby said, but she was welcomed into the fold by the Kangaroos after expressing her desire to continue playing.

"I now have this amazing opportunity to play with the other girls and meet new people, learn new skills with a new coach," she said.

"It's great fun."

Hailing from a rugby league family, Appleby claims never to have seen a full game before she was convinced by a friend to give it a try in 2021.

It is the first organised sport the 15-year-old has ever played. Despite years of backyard battles with her brothers, Appleby never had the chance to join a league team.

And though she has only played one-and-a-half seasons of AFL, she took to it like the proverbial duck to water.

"I've always kicked a footy in the backyard, but never been able to get on a field and play with some teammates," Appleby said.

"So it is something you focus on, is learning the sport, learning how to kick the ball properly and that sort of thing."

Her progress has been startlingly quick. After just one season, Appleby was selected for the Blue Heelers representative squad, where she met two of her new Kangaroos teammates: Ruby Spark and Grace Edgecock.

"Having mates on the field, you get to know people a lot easier," Appleby said.

The youngster's natural talent was on clear display as she kicked two goals in the Kangaroos' 7.13.55 to 1.5.11 win over the New England Nomads.

It was the first time she was on the winning side in an AFL North West game, and fittingly, her father was present to watch her.

Although he does not know AFL very well yet, Appleby said her dad tries to learn from each of her games.

"Dad's picking it up on the sideline, he's like 'Can you explain this to me?'" she said.

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