GOLD STARS FOR EMMA IN NEW ERA

EMMA Manzelmann’s name will now forever be etched into North Queensland folklore. But the crafty hooker has declared her Gold Stars exploits were just the beginning – 2022 would be the year of her making.

The 19-year-old capped off a remarkable QRLW season with her side’s first ever player of the year award, fresh off signing a maiden NRLW contract with Newcastle.

Due to Covid-19 concerns, the national competition has been pushed back from November to February 2022, meaning Manzelmann is set to play 10 straight months of rugby league.

Within what will be a hectic campaign, Manzelmann said there were still plenty of goals for her to tick off – a Queensland State of Origin debut, Gold Stars premiership and NRLW start headlining her list.

But there are challenges within the women’s game to achieve those goals. As the NRLW continues to build player payments are still not enough for it to be considered a completely professional outlet.

It means athletes are still juggling jobs and careers away from the game, and Manzelmann said she had already heard of several players who had lost positions due to the uncertainty regarding the competition’s progress.

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo flagged in early September there could be significant pay increases for 2022 and beyond. But for now it is a battle for competitors to manage both lifestyles.

However Manzelmann said as tough as it could be to navigate through these testing times, her focus remained on getting through the entire year unscathed.

“I’m sort of a bit nervous to be honest, after what has happened I’m thinking if Covid is actually going to be gone. Are we still going to be in the same boat coming around next year?” she said.

“I think it’s pretty difficult. For us women we have jobs as well, I know some of the females have actually lost their jobs due to relocating and not being able to return home and give their jobs a return date.

“It’s whether you want to do your job or play football. Football doesn’t pay the bills, you have to do both.

“My main goal is to make it through the whole season without many major injuries. I feel like it will be a big shock to most people having not played that much football ever.”

Manzelmann was the ace up the Gold Stars’ sleeve in their run to the 2021 QRLW semi-finals, averaging 112 running metres and 24 tackles a game.

Each time she stepped on to the field she was fearless, as teams began to direct attacking traffic straight at her. Not that she shied away from it. In one particularly dominant display against Burleigh she racked up 115m, 38 tackles, 12 tackle busts and two try assists in a losing cause.

And Manzelmann called on her soon-to-be NRLW rivals to keep making her a target.

“I’ve pretty much had it my whole life. I feel like people pick me out as a main player and they try to attack the main players to make the team not perform as well,” she said.

“But I find that as a booster, I feel I play better when you know they’re coming at you. “I think (having everyone) running at me and having to do all that work on me turned into attack. “If you’re running at me the whole time I’m running at you.”