When Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues halfback Rachael Pearson heard there was a young girl from her old stomping ground at Hay who looked up to her as a role model, she knew she had to do something about it.
“Apparently Rhyla has got Rachael as her screen saver on her school computer, so she wanted her to have something,” Rachael’s mother, Robyn, told nswrl.com.au yesterday after visiting Hay Park Oval to watch the free football clinic as part of the NSWRL Hogs Regional Tour.
Rhyla wasn’t hard to spot amongst the 50-odd children who turned up to the ground yesterday. She was the one wearing a Sky Blues jersey. But she wasn’t the only girl in a sky blues top because Pearson has a generous spirit when it comes to her hometown.
“I’ve handed out half a dozen items of things that she’s sent down for me and the kids just love it,” Robyn said.
“She’s got some more stuff to send down and I think she’s got some stuff for Hay Junior Rugby League as well.”
Rachael was unable to attend yesterday’s clinic as she was too busy working her other job as a fitter machinist in the mines to help further her career in Rugby League.
She had a breakout season last year for St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRLW, which justified her decision three years ago to give up playing League Tag in Hay and head to Sydney to pursue her dream of a Rugby League career.
Although she missed out on playing in the NRLW Grand Final with the Dragons, she made her debut for the Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues and helped reclaim the Origin Shield which had been held by Queensland since 2020.
“I got to Origin and that was a good game in Canberra, but it was a little too close for me,” Robyn said.
“We went back after the game to where they were staying in Canberra; they were back so late, it was after midnight, so it was hard to catch up with all the girls.
“Rachael was pretty happy with the result but she’s very humble and very quiet. That changes once she gets on the footy field, she seems to be able to lead the team around well.”
Robyn was full of praise for the NSWRL Hogs Regional Tour, with Westpac NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler and Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues coach Kylie Hilder touring regional NSW as part of a massive recruitment drive for the 2023 Community Rugby League season.
The tour travelled more than 2700km in week one and hosted almost 700 kids across six free football clinics from as far west as Bourke, to Lismore in northern NSW, and has now turned its attention to the southern part of the state.
Fittler and Hilder want to topple the record from 2021 which saw the number of participants rise by more than five per cent to 107,528, male participants record their highest growth in six years, and female participation break through the 20,000 mark (22,810) for the first time.
“To have something like this is fantastic,” Robyn said.
