Emilie Miller is part of NSW Gladiators team for the Wheelchair Rugby National Championship

Come Friday Miller will form part of the NSW Gladiators' bid to win the Wheelchair Rugby National Championship.

Going from a handcycle on the road to working the boards and crashing into rivals is a big change, but it was one Miller was keen to tackle when asked to give it a go in a sports transfer window period.

That is after she realised the request wasn't a joke.

"When our head coach rang me and said he had a proposition for me ... when he asked if I wanted to play wheelchair rugby I laughed and said good joke," Miller said.

"Interestingly enough I actually got approached by Wheelchair Sports New South Wales to play a number of years ago but at the time I was still in Year 12 and doing my HSC, so it was really just not practical.

"Then when I finished school I fell in love with cycling and my involvement with cycling increased, so I never ever gave it another thought."

As rugby is a mixed gender wheelchair sport, Miller's national debut as a Gladiator will come alongside some of the superstars of the sport.

She says that they have been crucial in her "really rapid progression" in the sport to date.

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"Look I am really fortunate with the calibre of athletes we have in our team. To have Ryley Batt, who is obviously captain of the Australian team, the best player in the world, and as well as that we have Andrew Edmonson who is also in the Australian team, Richard Voris who is also in the Australian team, so really lucky," she said.

"I'm really fortunate with the way they've taken me under their wing and helped me. They are really positive and keen on developing new athletes in the sport."

While Miller has shown strength and stamina to find Para-cycling success and those qualities have served her well in wheelchair rugby thus far, naturally there are plenty of differences between the two sports.

"It's obviously been quite a change of mindset, as a cyclist you try and avoid crashes instead of racing head-on into them," she laughed.

"It is a different physicality, it demands a lot more skill and agility than anything I've ever had in the past with cycling.

"It was a shock when I first got hit ... but now I really love actually getting hit. It sounds quite funny, but you know you are doing the right thing when someone puts a hit on you because it means they are worried about you defending."

The titles run Friday to Sunday on the Gold Coast.

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