Ahead of the rescheduled NRL Telstra Women's Premiership, NRL.com profiles the next crop of talent ready to make their mark in 2022.
Rookie snapshot
- Name: Kyra Simon
- Age: 19
- NRLW club: Knights
- Position: Prop
She may be one of the youngest players in Newcastle's NRLW squad but young gun forward Kyra Simon brings plenty of hidden ability.
The Knights local junior, who has come through the club's Tarsha Gale Cup program, is one of seven players from the region set to represent the community.
Simon, who is the cousin of former NRL star Jamal Idris, grew up playing rugby league until she was told to stop at 12.
She turned to soccer and surfing.
"I only recently mentioned to my Tarsha Gale Cup teammates that I surf and they spun out a bit because I'm a prop," Simon told NRL.com.
"I said 'yeah, you never thought a big girl could surf hey?' and they just lost it."
As it turns out, Simon wasn't lying.
The Forster representative was one of eight surfers who took part in the WSL Juraki Teams Challenge in 2019, finishing second in the women's competition on the Gold Coast.
It's allowed Simon to also explore her Indigenous culture more, with the Worimi woman mixing rugby league and surfing to learn about her family's history.
Simon traded her surfboard for the footy when the Knights held Tarsha Gale Cup trials in 2018, driving to training from her home in Lemon Tree Passage up to three times a week.
Bromilow to coach Knights for inaugural NRLW season
She'll have to do similiar when the Knights NRLW side gets together for pre-season training on Monday, while she's also recently accepted a job as a teacher's aid in Wallsend.
"I'm heaps keen, nervous about the competition itself being the younger one against the big boppers, but it will be better once we all start training together," she said.
"The squad are all older than me so I can learn a lot from experienced players and I've worked under Casey before so I'm really excited."