NRLW: Bent out to repay Dragons' faith

The 20-year-old first burst on the scene with the Dragons in 2019 as a teenager, earning her first call-up to the NSW Origin squad and announcing herself as a star of the future.

She made her debut in the Blues back row a year later and was also 2020 Dragons Player of the Year to cap a stellar sophomore campaign.

Surprising in the eyes of many, Bent was left a free agent after missing out on one of the NRL's elite top-30 NRLW contracts this season. It left her with no shortage of suitors, but she never really entertained the prospect of not returning to Wollongong.

"I love the Dragons. I started there, they gave me that first opportunity back when I was still in Tarsha Gale Cup," she said.

"I went in not expecting to play much at all in that first season but [former coach] Daniel Lacey put me in the back row and I ended up starting every game. I was 18th man for Origin, then played [last year].

"It's hard to believe I'm 21 at the end of the year. I did all of that at such a young age and it feels like I just did it yesterday. I just wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

The sailing hasn't been as smooth this year, with injury limiting her footy after a shift to Queensland and a lack of footy contributing to her being overlooked for NSW Origin duties. It also played a role in her missing the top-30 cut, but she's not kicking stones over either snub.

"It wasn't tough to take, I don't feel like it's my right to be in those positions," Bent said.

"I believe you create your own luck and it just wasn't my time yet. I moved to Queensland, it was a change of scenery for me, the competition's only seven weeks long and I only played six games.

"I was also playing centre up there, so there were probably a few reasons it wasn't the right time for me this year. If I didn't make it this year, it gave another girl that opportunity.

"It's so up and down in this game and it's good to see new girls getting selected for those things and getting those chances that I got. You can't be unhappy about that, but that's what the NRLW season is for me now, a chance to to show what I've got."

It might feel like a homecoming but it's also something of a fresh start, with Mat Head coming on board as coach and stars like Jess Sergis and Isabelle Kelly allocated elsewhere under the NRL's controversial talent equalisation recruitment system.

Read more: Dragons fall too depleted Sea Eagles after limp second-half display

Bent will return alongside fellow marquees Kezie Apps, Keeley Davis, Holli Wheeler and Quincy Dodd - the latter the only one to have worn rival NRLW colours. Bent feels that core can compete with any rival in an expanded competition.

"It does feel new but that's exciting," Bent said.

"I was in that position two years ago, I was 18 and new to the club, new to NRLW. Every year throws up something new.

"The best thing about those [marquee] girls is their passion for the club. You can be a good player, but if you don't have that passion for the club there's no point being there.

"We have girls here it means too much to us to not go out and win a game. We just want the girls who want to be here and want to play for this club. I feel like that's something that will really stand out for us and really push us through."

How and when the NRLW season looks once it does kickoff remains to be seen as COVID continues to wreak havoc with the game from the grassroots to the elite.

Preseason training was supposed to begin on Monday but that has now been pushed back a week after the entire NRL shifted to Queensland in response to the Sydney lockdown.

"It's tough, it has worried me a bit because you just don't know what's going to happen," Bent said.

"And because it's unpredictable, we're still working and stuff, so we have a million things to think about.

"We've been doing all our programs in our own time but we have team meetings via Zoom and even social dinners and things like that.

"The club's been really supportive of us and they're backing us along the way."