Dream debut: Maunsell makes merry in maiden match

When Hailee-Jay Maunsell joined the Titans' junior female academy at the end of last year, it was a long-term dream of playing NRLW in the blue and gold.

But fast forward only six months, the 18-year-old can't believe that desire has already come true, along with crossing the white line spectacularly on debut.

She may not have got the win, but the experience itself was exactly how she pictured it when she first wished of playing on the big stage.

"I think it was everything I had imagined it to be," Maunsell said of her first match on Sunday.

"It’s always been a dream of mine and the feeling was unreal... it was crazy."

"To score was awesome and unreal. It was like all these bucket list goals getting ticked off."

The journey in which the NRLW's youngest player has followed to chase her rugby league dream is quite phenomenal. Growing up in Victoria - a passionate AFL heartland - she was forced to join League Tag and started playing when she was in high school.

"In Victoria, they didn’t have a rugby league girls comp, so I had to play League Tag and started in 2016," Maunsell said.

"I wasn’t the greatest, but I got there in the end. I just trained really hard and I put myself out there.

"When we did have an under 16 girls side, I tried really hard to get into that and I got picked and that was just the start of my journey and it just kept getting better."

Whilst the sport was a little different to traditional tackle rugby league, her hard-work and determination to continually improve and concentrate on the fundamentals - which is still evidently on show at Titans training each week - is how she got the call to move north and join the Gold Coast's junior female academy in late 2021.

"[Joining the academy] was really exciting and another huge milestone. I was finally being recognised for all my hard work," Maunsell said.

"It was good to come through that pathway instead of just getting chucked straight into the NRLW side. That taught me a lot and prepared me for NRLW."

"I feel like if I was just chucked straight into the NRLW side, I may not have been ready, but it definitely prepared me to get to where I am now."

It wasn't long before coach Jamie Feeney tapped the teen on the shoulder and brought her into NRLW squad, which quickly led to the winger's debut against Parramatta at the weekend.

"It was really exciting. All the sacrifices that I had made finally paid off," Maunsell said.

"I knew I had been making my family proud and it was all worth it at the end."

Ready to run out at Cbus Super Stadium for the first time this year up against local rivals Brisbane, the New Zealand-born flyer can't wait for the opportunity and feels her side is capable of an upset against the table-topping Broncos.