Apps began her career making Herculean trips from her hometown of Bega to play for the Tigerlillies in a league that’s offered seven players to St George Illawarra’s roster for the upcoming NRL campaign.

It’s a list with less big names then their rivals but Apps is backing the talent pool.

“I really like the side we have and the club’s take on everything has been to keep it mostly local,” Apps said.

“We’ve got a really good playing pool in our Illawarra competition and, with our high performance unit, we’re building up the next generation as well and the next lot of girls.

“We do have a lot of talent in our team who’ve come from local competitions and the Illawarra competition’s been around for a long time.

“It’s proof that our competition is really strong.”