From Dragons and Origin, Weatherall charges into new challenge at Stingrays

At just 19, she's already represented NSW, the Maori All Stars and played for St George Illawarra in the NRL Women's competition.

But for the last two months, Weatherall took on a challenge she never expected to face, let alone at a young age.

Weatherall took on the captain-coach job with the Stingrays in the Illawarra competition, the great nursery of women's rugby league in Australia.

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On Friday night, she'll lead the hard-running forward will lead them into battle against Corrimal at Flinders Field.

"I haven't coached before, ever, but it's been great, the girls have made it a lot easier for me," she said.

"We haven't had a proper game together yet, with work commitments it's been hard to have any sort of trial.

"But we've got a really good mix of new players and girls with experience, most of them can play a few different positions, so it helps to have options.

"I just go into it expecting a really tough game every week, the Illawarra competition is really physical and I really like the contest."

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Weatherall missed out on this year's State of Origin team, NSW meet Queensland on the Sunshine Coast on June 25, but she remained open to playing more NRLW.

She hopes the competition expands to at least six teams next season to provide more opportunity for emerging female talent.

"I've learned a lot from the older women playing at that level, so hopefully I can pass some of that on at Stingrays," she said.

Mt Warrigal meet Dapto in the other round one game on Saturday (12.30pm).