The Jillaroos, who were playing their own World Cup which started on Thursday at Cronulla’s Shark Park, were present and signed autographs for a steady stream of supporters and people who were curious about them - our national women’s rugby league team.

One of the Jillaroos, Elianna Walton, who has been a Jillaroo regular since 2008 spoke to Inside Sport, saying what a great honour it was to represent Australia and how life-long bonds had been forged with her teammates over the years.

"I love the Bulldogs club and pushing for women’s footy in my district," Walton said. 

Walton has had a long association with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs going back to 2008 when she played for their women’s team in the Sydney Metropolitan Women’s Rugby League competition.

“I’m really excited to be playing for the Jillaroos at this year’s World Cup," she said. 

“I’m 32 and I’d love to keep playing beyond this year.”

Another Jillaroo, Rebecca Young, who represented Australia in rugby union at the 2006 women’s rugby World Cup before switching to rugby league, told Inside Sport she had been selected for the Jillaroos test match against the Cook Islands and was looking forward to the match.

“I’m playing with all these youngsters” she told Inside Sport as she pointed to six other Jillaroos in their stall.

Introductions were made.

“I’m Meg Ward, pleased to meet you” replied the Northern Territorian with a warm smile and a relaxed demeanour.

When asked if she was from the Northern Territory Ward said “yes, that’s me”.

“That’s Med Ward” Young piped up.

“M-E-D  W-A-R-D” as she spelt it out with a big smile from ear to ear.

“You have to write about Meg as Med Ward, as one of your journalist colleagues had previously referred to her by that name in an article.

“That’s her nickname and it’s stuck among the squad now.”

Gotta love Aussies and their knockabout sense of humour - nicknames always for the newbies.

Obviously Ward had impressed playing in the Affiliated States tournament to initially catch the Australian selectors eyes and it will be good to see her in Australian colours for the second time after she played well for the Jillaroos against Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby.

As for Young and Walton, it Is easy to observe they are popular with the lesser experienced and younger Jillaroos.

Nikita Davis-Welsh, Annette Brander, Zahara Temara and Lavina Phillips were among the girls introduced through Young and Walton.

Young was in a playful mood with her Meg “Med” Ward antics and her playful antics made it easy to interview the younger members of the squad.

Lavina Phillips had been selected to play for Australia at this World Cup after playing so well for City, Redfern, the Indigenous All Stars and New South Wales during the 2017 season.

Phillips told Inside Sport with a beaming smile: "Yes it is and I’m looking forward to playing my part” when asked if this was her first national team.

Phillips, a mother of two, began playing in 2009 to ward off post-natal depression.

She was hanging out with her Redfern, New South Wales and now Jillaroo teammate Nikita Davis-Welsh in the Jillaroos marquee and they were excited to be at the SFS.

Davis-Welsh has a killer step. She scored some wonderful tries off Phillips’ great lead up work against Young and Caitlin Moran’s North Newcastle team in their recent win in the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s rugby league grand final at Leichhardt Oval recently.

Vanessa Foliaki was sitting with the Phillips and Davis-Welsh and unlike the other two girls she’s played for the Jillaroos before.

When asked by Inside Sport what position she played she answered matter-of-factly “second row”.

Quiet by nature Foliaki is a pioneer and the first true state of origin women’s rugby league player.

She’s a hard running second rower who was a member of NSW’s first ever winning team last year after a losing sequence that covered 17 straight years.

She then moved to Queensland and plies her trade with Brisbane Easts, but she asked to play for NSW in this year’s Interstate series. Her request was granted and she won another women’s Interstate women’s rugby league title with NSW this year while living and playing in Queensland.

Annette Brander is another Jillaroos rising star who has played for the national women’s team since 2014.

Within a minute she had told me the names of all the younger players who was playing against the Cook Islands and who wasn’t when I came back to the Jilllaroos marquee a second time.

Pointing at the players who were at the Jillaroos marquee and who are mentioned above, “We’re all playing against the Cook Islands on Thursday except for Eli.

“She’ll play later in the tournament.”

As I talked to these present day Jillaroos before the men’s world cup match, It’s wonderful to see how far women’s rugby league has come in such a short space of time.

During 2007 representative players at state and international level were still paying out of their own pockets for the right to take advantage of that honour and to partake at that level.

Two thousand and seven NSW and Jillaroo representative Bronnie McIntosh, a dual international who also represented Australia in rugby union during the 1990s and early 2000s told Inside Sports she had to carry a bucket around at community events to raise cash as a member of the national squad as the Jillaroos weren’t aligned with the NRL, but played under the Australian Women’s Rugby League banner back then.

“We had to carry a bucket around to collect cash at some training camp in Queensland and I wasn’t impressed”, she told Inside Sport.

She withdrew from that squad not long after and that was the same team Steph Hancock and Renae Kunst spoke about being in camp with and not having enough food to eat, as they lost weight the longer that 2008 women’s rugby league World Cup went on. 

How times have changed as women’s sport moves into the public’s awareness and sporting mainstream, as they now receive press and television coverage on a regular basis and more importantly are now included under the NRL’s banner.

Now we watch the Matildas beat the world’s best and the Australian women’s cricket - including Elyse Perry’s record breaking 213-run double century in the women’s test match on television and on ABC radio.

Throw in the AFLW, the W-League, the Women’s Big Bash, the Jillaroos and the women’s Interstate Challenge and all are being covered more keenly by the media.

Players like Ruan Sims, Bec Young, Elianna Walton, Sam Bremner, Steph Hancock, Renae Kunst and Caitlin Moran are now household names among sports fans.

In the not too distant future women’s rugby league players including those above who are not retiring will go from part-time players to full-time professionals where they will share the big stage with their male counterparts on a full-time basis when the NRLW and their playing for NRL clubs become a reality.

When that happens every talented women’s rugby league player will have the world at their feet; as that same world becomes their oyster.

The Women’s Rugby League World Cup kicked off this Thursday at Cronulla’s Southern Cross Group Stadium and the final will be played as a double-header in conjunction with the men’s final at Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane on Saturday, 2 December 2017.