The Bathurst Bulldogs captain scored a host of tries for her side this season - many of them long range efforts - but she also created opportunities for her team-mates and dished out some big hits in defence.

Even when sidelined with a broken pinky finger, she was there on game day rallying her team-mates.

For Watts it was just about a desire to do well for her side rather than earn any individual accolade, but she was still delighted with the honour.

"It's a bit of a surprise actually, obviously it's a big honour so I'm pretty happy with it," she said.

"To be honest I never really think about those sort of things anyway, it's just a nice surprise at the end of the year to get those sort of awards.

"But I definitely didn't think I'd be in contention this year because I missed close to half the season, I missed like four of five games with it."

What added to the surprise of winning the player of the year award was also the quality of talent both amongst her fellow Bulldogs and across all the Ferguson Cup outfits as well.

"I wouldn't have been surprised if any of the girls in our team got the award really, I think there are a lot in there who did deserve it," Watts said.

"Then looking at the other games, every other team has at least one really good player, Dubbo has a handful, so yeah it was a big honour."

READ MORE: Pip McIntosh is a proud Dad as he shares a premiership with his daughters

READ MORE: Women's premiership streak stands as one of the best in Bulldogs' history

READ MORE: Bathurst Bulldogs women awarded fifth consecutive premiership

While Watts joined the Bulldogs in 2020 after a stint with the Warringah Rats and marked her maiden season with a premiership, this year she took on the added responsibility of skipper.

She led the women's side to their maiden minor premiership, losing just one game along the way. When Central West Rugby Union was forced to abandon the finals series due to the COVID-19 lockdown, finishing the regular season on top of the ladder saw Bulldogs declared premiers.

But on top of that title success - Bulldogs' fifth premiership in a row - Watts also worked on helping develop her younger and more inexperienced team-mates.

"It [captaincy] was very new to me, I've never been in that situation before, but I definitely enjoyed it. It was a fun year really," Watts said.

"I was just trying to take a bit more of a leadership role and use my experience to help others focus on their own game. I'm not really interested in doing any more rep stuff, so I'm focussing my skills on what is next for me and that is helping the next generation coming through."

While Watts will be back in Bulldogs colours next season, she is eager to pull on a Panorama Platypi jumper before the end of 2021.

The Platypi are members of the Western Women's Rugby League competition, one which is slated to feature an expanded eight rounds, top four finals format this season.

Whether or not it will go ahead and what the draw looks like will depend on the status of the COVID-19 lockdown.

"I've never played league before so I am looking forward to something new, hopefully we get the chance," Watts said.

"Tackle and run, that will be a focus," she added with a laugh.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: