Playing rugby and scoring tries.

Leaving the field with a broken collarbone in a North Cup preliminary final CSU lost to Mudgee was not the way Reilly had hoped her 2021 season would finish.

But there were plenty of highlights along the way, notably her try-scoring feats. It saw the talented back named the highest point scorer in the North Cup for the year.

"It's not something I thought about. Like I definitely kept a tally of my own achievements throughout the season, but I had no idea about the other teams, they have a lot of great players as well," Reilly said.

"I actually ended up scoring at least one try a game except in the last game, I scored 20 tries all together."

This season was Reilly's second with the students and while her performances might point to a background in the sport, she'd never played anything like union before coming to CSU.

But Reilly has proved to be a fast learner and has developed into one of CSU's strike weapons.

"I came to Bathurst and I'd never played rugby before, but I'd heard of CSU and that they were a great club. My friend wanted to join the rugby club so I said I'd play," she said.

"I never considered playing rugby before, I grew up playing soccer ... I'd never really done anything with the ball in my hands, just at my feet.

"I still felt pretty new to the sport this year, I still learned so much every game this year and I've come out of this season knowing about new things I should start doing next year as well."

Having spent her debut season on the wing, this year Reilly spent time at both inside and outside centre.

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It meant more time with ball in hand, but it was a job she relished and she played a leading role in seeing CSU go undefeated through the regular season.

"This year was a little bit different because I was on the wing last year, I definitely touched the ball more this year and had a lot more responsibility," she said.

"Even just passing the ball to someone else, that's something I didn't do last year because I was just receiving the ball on the wing.

"But the atmosphere and support from the team was amazing, every week they just showed up, I'd honestly put what I did on them, one hundred percent."

Inside centre is position where Reilly hopes to spend more time, but it will depend on how she recovers from the collarbone surgery.

"I went to tackle to someone and I landed straight on my collarbone and it broke. I had to go straight to hospital," she said.

"It happened in the third quarter and I had to get surgery. So I'm six weeks in a sling at the moment and I'm hoping that I can recover properly and return to rugby because that's a bit up in the air at the moment.

"I'd love to stay with the club and keep developing my rugby skills."

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