18 months ago, Pearl Rakete was celebrating the Goulburn Stockmen's grand final win over the Yass Magpies in the Katrina Fanning Shield rugby league grand final.
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On Saturday, she made her debut for the ACT Brumbies at GIO Stadium.
One of three Goulburn locals selected in the Brumbies' Super W squad, Rakete was the only one to take the field yesterday, for 25 minutes.
"Honestly, that was perfect," Rakete said after the match.
"I wouldn't care whether I got five minutes, the whole 80 minutes, didn't matter."
Having spent a large portion of 2019 recovering from a serious knee injury, Rakete made the switch from league to union with near immediate success.
She played in the Brumbies' 29-10 win over the Western Force, in a rain-soaked match which the home side dominated from the outset.
Krystal Fife crossed for the Brumbies' opening try in the first minute, and was followed by Rebecca Smyth just six minutes later. Both were converted by Sammi Wood to give the home side a 14-0 lead after less than ten minutes.
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Rakete came on to the field late in the first half, and said that the time spent watching the game helped ease her nerves.
"I was nervous at first, but being able to sit down and observe the game, see how good the girls are doing and what they need to work on, it felt really good going out there knowing in my head that I'd thought over it and that I could help the girls and be an impact player," she said.
The Brumbies scored again at the 20-minute mark thanks to a gritty try from Wallaroos legend Louise Burrows, to take the score to 21-5 at half time.
An early penalty goal in the second half got the Brumbies running again, and one more try to each team took the full-time tally to 29-10.
Though the Force played considerably better in the second half, it was futile against a commanding performance from the Brumbies, and one which will put them in good stead ahead of next week's clash against the Melbourne Rebels.
"[A strong win] definitely builds the confidence," Rakete said.
"Next week our game should be a bit harder, but after today, having the end that we did should make it so much easier."
Though Rakete was not joined on the field by her fellow Goulburn locals, she said having the likes of Paige Penning and Sass Cudaj in the squad, along with Ash Mewburn in the coaching staff, calmed her nerves.
"Definitely helps all the nerves," Rakete said.
"Sass was really good ... it just feels good having familiar faces around I guess. People from the club and from your hometown that you can play alongside.
"The day that we all get to run out together will be a day to remember."
The experience of Penning and Mewburn in particular, who have both played for the Brumbies in past seasons, was crucial to Rakete.
"Just watching them grow and how much they learned, I was so grateful to learn everything I did off them," she said.
"I came into the season with a little bit of an idea of what was going on."
The Brumbies will play the Melbourne Rebels this Saturday, February 22, at Mars Stadium from 12.15pm.
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