For a while Steph Lennon thought hockey was going to be the sport where she made her mark.
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After taking it up when she went away to boarding school at Kinross Wolaroi in Orange, Lennon quickly showed a proficiency for the sport.
Despite having never really picked up a stick before - there aren't a lot of hockey fields around Leadville, where she grew up - within a few years she was playing for the schools firsts side, as well as in the Western Premier League.
"I was like hockey's the thing, I loved it," she recalled.
But as they say, sometimes you can get too much of a good thing.
Playing three games a week, plus training on top of that, she got a bit burnt out.
"I think I just maxed out with hockey, I was just over it," Lennon said.
So she traded the stick back for the footy boots and the Gilbert.
She had played a fair bit of rugby in her younger days, suiting up for Mudgee from the under 8s through to the under 12s.
In Year 11 when she picked it up back, representative opportunities with Central West junior teams followed, and she even spent a bit of time in New Zealand training and playing with a Waikato junior development side.
Out of that she was offered a contract with them, but she turned it down.
Lennon reflected that it will always be one of the biggest regrets of her life not taking that up, but at the same time is "very grateful" to be where she is today.
Later as she moved around a bit, rugby became a bit of a constant.
Now it has become not only the Gunnedah winger's weekend passion, but her job.
The week of the Central North grand final she started as the NSW Rugby development officer for the Central North and New England.
Being so different to what she has been doing for the last two-and-a-half years, which is working in the store at Pursehouse Rural, as much as it on paper seemed a dream job, she wasn't sure how it would all go.
But a month in, she is loving it.
Initially scouted at the Country Championships about the job, while she's glad now she did, Lennon didn't say yes straight away.
"I was working really hard at Pursehouse to try and work my way up that ladder," she said.
But talking to them about it, they couldn't have been more supportive.
"They're like go for it, we can't top that, you're going to have the best life," she said.
One of the best parts, so far, has been getting out into some of the schools. It's one of aspects she thought she would most enjoy, having loved it back when she did some casual work with the Central West development team.
"It's very rewarding to see the kids enjoying it," she said.
She is planning to visit as many schools as she can before the end of the year, and has put the call out for some casual development staff to help with that and other things.
She also spoke about wanting to create good relationships with the clubs and really getting to know them and what they're about.
"I want to sit down and make a vision," she said.
"It can be what's next year's goals or plans, what do you want to be in five years, looking ahead to the future."
