Growing up with eight brothers, one thing Isabel Davis got plenty of practice of was being tackled.
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She recalled a lot of backyard football battles growing up.
Now she is preparing to dive into her first season of competitive tackle football, joining the Tamworth Magpies for their 2023 New England campaign.
"I've always taken an interest in football and wanted to play tackle," Davis said.
In fact she wanted to play rugby when she was at school. But she wasn't allowed to.
Instead she did physical culture and horse riding.
In more recent years the 22-year-old personal assistant at PRD has been playing oztag. It was through connections formed through that, that she came to be at the Magpies.
Long story short she plays with a few of the men's squad of a Wednesday night and they convinced her to come and have a run.
"I'm very excited. The girls at the Magpies are really supportive," Davis said.
"I've been learning a lot and they've been training really hard, so I'm super excited to see how we go."
So far she hasn't found it too steep a learning curve.
The ball skills are there from playing oztag, and she isn't daunted by the contact. Her brothers took care of that.
One of only two girls in the family - she has a younger sister - Davis was born in Gunnedah but grew up in Attunga and attended school in Tamworth - St Edward's for primary school and McCarthy for high school.
The Magpies continue their season preparations with a trial against last year's Central North runners-up Gunnedah in Gunnedah on Saturday.
Second grade will get the action underway at 12pm. The women then follow at 1.30pm with the first grade men kicking-off at 2.15pm.
Quirindi will also be hosting a four-way trial with St Alberts, Robb College and Scone with the first game taking the field at 11.30am.
