Bree Chester is finally about to take her place on the field for the Indigenous All Stars team after an ill-timed bout of COVID forced her to withdraw from last year’s side.
Speaking from camp following a field session with her team, you could not wipe the smile from the Mallabula Panthers junior’s face as she spoke with excitement about taking part in this year’s historic event in New Zealand.
“I am super excited for this year, it’s a dream come true!” Chester said.
“(Last year) I was literally I was picked, I did the whole selection process, got picked and then it was a week before camp that I had to be ruled out by my club back home because of COVID and I was spewing.”
For her coach Ben Jeffries, it was also a thrill to be able to reward Chester for her enthusiasm and hard work with selection in the side.
“You don’t know until you put people on the big stage (how they will perform) and this is why I love coming into this space; you always end giving debuts to someone, but we have got several this time and these girls have been chomping at the bit for a year or two now,” Jeffries said.
“Bree for example, she got picked in the 2022 game and got COVID, so she was devastated when we had to pull her out and then she missed the first selection for this game.
“Then (we had a player withdraw), so we moved her in.
“I was so devastated for her last year and then when it came to the selection table this year, she just missed the first cut, and we knew how much she wanted to be in this space last year and to miss the actual cut again … but to be able to ring her and give her that good news was awesome.”
Jeffries also said being part of the First Nations Gems Women’s National Championship team in 2022 had helped prepare her for inclusion in the representative side.
“We are big on promoting girls out of the First Nations Gems who play in the women’s nationals, which sort of acts as a reserve grade for All Stars,” Jeffries said.
Chester – who has spent time in the Newcastle system and is hoping to play NRLW in the near future – agreed.
“I did play Gems last year and that was heaps good, culturally-wise,” Chester said.
“It was great up there (at Redcliffe), the whole group was good, and then there's a couple of girls from that team that is in here in camp now.
“I kind of knew everyone before I come in, but like when you come into a camp like this, everyone, just literally clicks like straight away, so it’s good.”
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For today’s game against a strong Māori Women’s side featuring World Cup winning forwards Shannon Mato and Olivia Kernick, Chester was excited to be coming off the bench and being put to work.
“Normally, I would play in the second row … (but for the game, my role is to provide) just a lot of energy out there and talk,” Chester said.
“I'm coming off the bench, so the girls will be out there doing the first hard lot of work at the beginning and I have just got to come out there and keep up.
“I’ll go on and keep the energy up and just do my job out there, whether that's on the edge or in the middle … or a bit of both.”