Group 4: Dhalara Knox helps North Tamworth score upset win over Roosters

And more to the point, it is a way for the Tamworth product to connect with her family and her Indigenous heritage.

Knox has played a variety of sports for effectively her entire life, and currently balances work at the Post Office Hotel with league tag, basketball, and touch football.

"I just play sport and train pretty much every day," Knox said.

"I don't really take a break from sport. I can't not be doing anything, otherwise I just get bored. That's the kind of person I am, I've always got to be moving around."

Given the size of her family, Knox must be used to around-the-clock activity. She is the second-oldest of 10 siblings (along with six step-siblings), and has grown up playing both league tag and basketball with her older sister, Tshinta.

Although Tshinta no longer plays for the North Tamworth Bears, the pair still turn out together for the Tamworth Thunderbolts, of which the former was appointed captain earlier this year.

"She's still bossing us around, nothing changes," Knox joked.

"But no, she's good. She supports me a lot."

Despite the competitiveness that is inherent in sibling rivalry, Knox said her family are her biggest supporters no matter the shape or size of the ball. And, due to their numbers, it's not hard to pick them out in a crowd.

"I can hear them on the sidelines all the time," she said.

This familial passion is unsurprising to anybody who knows the Knoxes. As Dhalara said, "every single person in my family has played a sport", and they still congregate together on the touch football field.

"That's pretty much what our touch team is, it's just Knoxes," she said.

"It's full of cousins, brothers, sisters, and my mum and dad. Everyone plays a sport."

Given her tall, slim frame, Knox is built to run, and she developed potent speed during her early years spent running track.

Since joining with North Tamworth a handful of years ago, this has made the 22-year-old a force to be reckoned with on the field. On Saturday, the Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters women found her hard to catch, as she scored a try in the Bears' 28-10 victory at Jack Woolaston Oval.

The victory propelled North Tamworth to the top of the Group 4 league tag ladder, where they hold a one-point lead over Kootingal-Moonbi.

It was the first loss of the Roosters' season, and Norths coach Steph Halpin said the result was all the more meaningful because it came on Norths' Ladies Day, during which the Bears held a fundraiser for the Cancer Council, multiple games with cash prizes on the line, and a Fashion in the Fields competition.

"It's such a special day because we have all these ladies working with the club that also support us week in, week out," Halpin said.

"The fact that we can come down here, enjoy a beautiful day with great weather, raise a bit of money for a great cause, and have the women around - I can't really say much more other than it's a top result on a top day."

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