The bonding experience Jasmine Peters had with the much-travelled North Queensland Gold Stars makes her a key component in the short preparation the Harvey Norman Queensland Under 19s have had ahead of their showdown with New South Wales.
The flying centre bursts with pride when she speaks about how the Gold Stars came together to fire on the field with just one captain’s run as a team before BHP Premiership matches.
That experience is why Queensland coach Kelvin Wright is so keen to have her in his team for Friday’s clash on the Sunshine Coast.
“I am from Mackay and just to be able to play for Gold Stars this year has been amazing,” Peters said when asked what she has enjoyed about this season so far.
“Our base is in Townsville where the Cowboys are but we have a camp in Mackay and a camp in Cairns…in three different academies.
“The big thing is that we don’t get to train together until the captain’s run on a Friday - in whatever location we are playing – where we go through all our sets and then play the next day.
“To have come third this year, I think it shows that no matter where you are located or how long you have to prepare, it is all about bonding. If you don’t bond as a team you won’t get as far as we did.
“I guess it is my North Queensland pride and why I am so passionate about Gold Stars.”
Peters had represented Queensland in soccer and athletics, but as a girl she had the drive and competitive mindset to try her hand at league.
“Dad played football and we were always at the footy club at Moranbah when we used to live out there,” Peters said.
“I played soccer because there wasn’t really much female football back then, but I was very interested in league. I thought to myself, ‘I want to do that. I am aggressive enough to play’.
"When I came into Mackay I had played a couple of games at school but that’s when I started and ever since mum, dad and my family have been very supportive.
“This opportunity with the 19s is something you work all year for, especially after not being able to do it last year.
“It is exciting to do it after playing in the inaugural under 18s [in 2019] as a winger. It was amazing to be exposed to that opportunity and development. It was an experience I took back to my local team, not to build myself, but to build the community as well.”
Peters is Indigenous and has some wonderful examples in the Queensland system to look up to.
“I played with Tallisha Harden at All Stars this year and she showed me that whatever you are now, you still have to go back to where you come from and be humble,” Peters said.
“That is what I have learned from her. She is so level headed on and off the field.”
Wright can’t wait to unleash Peters against NSW and he is backing her attacking smarts to come to the fore.
“I love her enthusiasm and intent when she carries the footy. She attacks the line at speed and that makes her really hard to tackle,” Wright said.
“Jasmine has great awareness to know how to run and where to run to find space. She is someone who has predominantly played in the centres, but at fullback for us.
“One thing you know with Jasmine is that she is always going to be a handful with the football and she starts the sets off really well.”
Peters, who has ambitions to be a chiropractor, is undertaking an allied health traineeship off the field. She would love to play NRLW for one of the two Queensland-based sides in the expanded six-team competition this year.
“The expanded comp provides opportunities for myself and other females coming through,” Peters said.
“When I was younger we had to look up to the men because we didn’t have a women’s competition, but for the girls now it is great that they can say ‘I don’t have to play another sport. I can play football’.
“One hundred per cent I’d like to play for one of the Queensland teams, just as a proud product of Queensland. If not, if an opportunity arises to play for a NSW-based team I would obviously take it. I want the development long-term.”
The Harvey Norman Queensland Under 19s game will be livestreamed on NRL.com and on QRL.com.au.
