Harden’s very own Tara McGrath-West made her NRLW debut over the weekend for the St George Illawarra Dragons in a 26-12 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

McGrath-West came off the bench for the Dragons on Sunday, playing 36-minutes for the Red-V at prop, in what Tara said was an exciting day for her personally. “It was pretty incredible.

The game itself was a bit more fast paced compared to what I’ve played previously, but it was really good and enjoyable,” Tara said.

“I came on with about 15 minutes left in the first-half and then they took me off for about 10 minutes in second half then I went back on and finished the game. McGrath-West plays under coach and former Dragons legend, Jamie Soward, who was happy with the team’s overall performance.

“Personally, I was pretty impressed with the team’s performance. I think we had a few one per cent things that we could have done a little bit better which would’ve improved our game. But Jamie [Soward] was overall impressed with our performance,” Tara continued.

“He has the same kind of concepts that he thought we could’ve done better that would’ve kept the oppositions score lower.” Tara is relishing the fact that she now has the opportunity to play at first class stadiums around Australia, including their home ground of WIN Stadium.

“It’s pretty exciting. I think its something that just adds to the experience itself. Having my debut at home just made it 10 times better.

“My mum, dad and brother came from Harden and a few good friends from Harden also came. A lot of my family and friends from Canberra and Sydney also came, so I had a good support network there.” After her first NRLW game at a faster pace than the level she was used to, McGrath-West said she pulled up fine following the game.

“I was good to go on Monday. I thought I would be sorer but I was pretty impressed with how well I pulled up.” This weekend, Tara’s Dragons will play the Parramatta Eels at CommBank Stadium on Sunday in round 2 action.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there. I love going to watch games at CommBank so I think to play on will be pretty special too.

“I’d personally like to play a few more minutes if I can. In my debut, I had a pretty quiet game to what I usually do in the Harvey Norman competition. For me, getting my stats higher is probably more important than the minutes I play. “But Jamie [Soward] was happy with how I performed. He didn’t really give any indication on what he wants regarding game time or anything like that. “Prop is probably my favoured position that I like to stick to now.”

In her 36-minutes on field, Tara recorded eight runs with a gain of 72-metres and laid 20 tackles.

Tara McGrath-West was signed to the Dragons from the North Sydney Bears last month.

Tim Warren