THE term Super Saturday may not have been coined with Claudia McLaren in mind, but given she is planning to start her weekend by playing two grand finals on the same day is certainly fitting.
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On Saturday morning McLaren will line up with the Bathurst Bulldogs at Wade Park as they face the Dubbo Kangaroos in their Ferguson Cup rugby union grand final.
After that she will head to Carrington Park where she will be in action for the CSU Mungals in the Mid West League league tag decider against the Cargo Blue Heelers.
She laughs to herself that "Yeah, it's crazy", but said that she loves both and "couldn't pick one."
McLaren has never played in two grand finals the same year before, let alone two on the same day.
"I started off with netball, I was a pretty big netballer, then I played a bit of league tag. I played with uni in 2017 when I lived on campus and then I went to rugby sevens," she said.
"I've pretty much just played one sport until this year."
Given McLaren's talent both the Bulldogs and Mungals were happy to have her as part of their squads this year.
McLaren's previous campaign with the Mungals in 2017 - she was part of the CSU Blue side which placed third - was so impressive it saw her named in the club's league tag team of the decade.
"Her footwork, ball skills, defence and confidence under the high ball made Claudia one of the most feared fullbacks to wear the blue and yellow jersey," it said of her selection.
She scored a host of points for the Mungals that season and the following year when trying her hand at rugby union - a sport in which her father James represented Scotland - the tries kept coming.
McLaren scored twice in the grand final that year to help Bulldogs beat CSU 41-7.
This year she has continued to prove a back line weapon for both clubs, but it did not dawn on her she could potentially play in two grand finals until the Bulldogs' round eight win over Forbes.
"That's when I realised that the next few weeks were going to be pretty red hot," she said.
Last Saturday she played in two preliminary finals, helping Bulldogs beat Orange Emus and CSU down Orange Barbarians.
"I was pretty exhausted as I went from Orange to Oberon and actually back to Orange because I had to work that night," she said.
"The legs, they feel like they stopped working come the second game, but it was more just the bruises from the contact in the morning at rugby, getting tackled."
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This Saturday McLaren has her fingers crossed "the adrenaline kicks in" and her play list can fire her up as both Bulldogs and CSU aim to defend premiership titles.
"They are pretty big games, both of them, but because rugby is in Orange and league tag is here, I'll have that 45 minutes to reset. The weekend before I had the music blaring while I was driving out in the middle of the country to Oberon," she said.
"I feel a bit of pressure coming back in because obviously both teams are defending premiers but I wasn't involved in any last year. So it's like 'Oh my gosh, I better stand up and play to the standard of everyone else'."
The Bulldogs' grand final commences at 10.30am, while the Mungals' decider kicks off at 1.30pm.
