NRLW Burleigh Bears players have 'a lot more to fight for' as Titans' first women's game nears

When the Titans' inaugural women's NRL team plays their first game on Sunday against the Dragons in Newcastle, there will be few cheering louder than Sunny Gerrard.

The Burleigh Bears second rower started playing rugby league when she was six but like many girls was told she «had to stop» at age 12.

«That's obviously how the pathway was back then,» Gerrard said.

«To be pushed away from the sport just because I was a girl was really upsetting.»

But Gerrard said things have «evolved» and she returned to the sport four years ago.

«It's crazy to think that without it, I wouldn't be where I am today, I wouldn't have met some of my closest mates.»

Gerrard said the establishment of a local NRLW team gave her a pathway into the professional sport.

«Hopefully it'll be as big as the boys' game and we're getting the media coverage, the same amount of teams, even the same amount of pay,» she said.

«A lot of the older girls, they have full time jobs, kids on top of that, [and are] rushing home to get to training, it's crazy what they do.

»They're actually really inspiring."

For more than 10 years, the Burleigh Bears has been a feeder club for the Gold Coast Titans, with emerging talent like Hailee-Jay Ormond-Maunsell playing under-19s last season.

«We're the same age as well and she's making it,» Bears under-19s forward Dannii Perese said.

«It's so cool to see that she's there.»

Perese has been playing league for almost five years and said the game has «a whole different dynamic to netball with the girls».

«With league, girls push each other more… you have to come together,» she said.

«You don't really get to see how girls play this sport, it's very different to boys.

»Women… have a lot more to fight for considering they've just started."

Teammate Al