Jillaroos winger Julia Robinson says her stellar rugby league rise still feels "like a dream", and when she tells the story of her journey it becomes crystal clear why that is the case.
When the last Rugby League World Cup was played in Australia in 2017, Robinson didn't even know it was on and had still not held a rugby league ball in her hands.
Fast forward five years and she has played for her country, won two State of Origin series with Queensland and three NRLW titles with Brisbane.
The 24-year-old army truck driver will contest this World Cup in England as one of the game's leading players.
"I still feel like my career is just a dream," she told AAP.
"I am just riding that wave. I don't want that wave to end."
Robinson started playing rugby league in 2018 for the Australian Defence Force at the National Women's Championships. Several months later she won her first NRLW title with the Broncos.
"In 2017 I never knew girls were playing rugby league. I had no idea who anyone was the next year when I I was playing in the Defence team against the Queensland and NSW girls," she recalled.
"That was my first time playing league after I'd played netball my whole life."
Robinson said 2018 was "a crazy year" and a springboard for what came next.
"We just had a Jillaroos reunion and even the staff from previous teams came. One of the guys, Murray Stalley, was the manager for our Broncos team in 2018.
"He told me I had made the Jillaroos team at the airport in 2018 when we got back from winning the grand final. I just remember crying when he told me. We were talking about it and how it was such a big year for me.
"I feel like it was right time, right place for me. If I'd decided to play rugby league for the first time, say this year, I feel I would have struggled to make this Jillaroos team just because of the incredible talent and athletes coming through.
"I was very lucky to have started when I did."
It's no surprise that Robinson is "so excited" to be in York ahead of the World Cup opener against Cook Islands on November 2.
"I have never been overseas before," she added.
"We have such amazing players in this squad. I feel like we could put 13 out one week and a completely different 13 the next game and it would still be at the same level. We are going to have such a good time. We are going to rip in."
