Pride of Parkes: Mac attacks debut season with passion

For Parkes Spacemen junior Elizabeth MacGregor, her rookie NRLW season is proving to be out of this world.

The 18-year-old has scored five tries in her seven appearances on the wing for the Canterbury Bulldogs and can feel the momentum the club has built in its first year in the NRLW.

Her fifth try came on Saturday night in the 24-14 upset win against high-flyers the Sharks – the second top-six team the Bulldogs have beaten this season although they won’t be playing finals.

MacGregor said the team has never wavered in their thinking they could beat the bigger-profile sides like last year’s grand finalists Cronulla.

“I think it (belief) came from some of the older girls just giving us that confidence,” MacGregor told ljmpta.com.

“We wanted to end the season on a high, we knew we couldn’t make finals. But we will have pretty much the same squad next year so we wanted to finish strong.”

MacGregor’s inaugural NRLW season couldn’t have gone much better – she has six line breaks and 20 tackle breaks in her seven matches.

She was a star in the Bulldogs Tarsha Gale Cup Under 19s earlier in the year before earning a call-up to the NRLW in Round 4 against her former club, the Roosters. She scored a double on debut.

MacGregor started her rugby league journey playing in the Under 8s for the Spacemen. She played in any position among the outside backs but spent most of her time at fullback.

“I got picked up at 15 and came up to Sydney to continue my footy and then the Bulldogs offered me a contract,” said MacGregor, who also played for Western Rams in NSWRL Country Championships.

“It’s really cool to be a country girl. There’s a lot of talent in the bush so if I can promote that I’m happy.”

The Bulldogs bounced back from a 44-0 drubbing at the hands of the Broncos to a 10-point win over the Sharks. Next up is the western Sydney derby against Parramatta on Friday.

“We’ve laid a good platform for that match. We want to build on what we did (Sharks) so we can end the season excited for how we can start the next year," she said.

Part of that excitement is continuing to work with first-time NRLW coach former NRL wing-centre for the Eels, Sea Eagles and Dragons, Brayden Wiliame.

“He’s someone who likes to coach and build up the confidence in his players. That’s something he’s definitely done with me being an inexperienced player,” MacGregor said.

“He just told me to go out and play my game and if I drop a ball, who cares, just get up and go again. That helps me a lot.”