Ellie Johnston was the outstanding women's rugby union player of the Mid North Coast last season, proving almost unstoppable as Wauchope Thunder swept aside their rivals to claim the Lower Mid North Coast premiership, inflicting a 55-3 defeat on the Wallamba Bulls' women in the grand final at Peter Barclay Field, Tuncurry.

Ellie's power and speed saw her run in four of Wauchope's tries, interspersed with two tries she contributed to team-mates.

The Kennards Hire women's premiership is a swift and demanding 10-a-side competition, an expanded version of the seven-a-side rugby the Australian team of speedsters utilised in claiming the women's gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games.

Ever since 1895 when rugby league was formed in Yorkshire, later spreading to Australia and New Zealand in 1907 when rugby union turned professional in a revolt against the code's amateur laws forbidding compensation for injury, league has cherry-picked rugby's outstanding players.

Rugby union put its archaic practices and 18th century thinking behind it following South Africa's World Cup win in 2005 and legalised professionalism in the game.

You may also like: Hard-charging Hessing ruled out even before coronavirus crisis

Had they possessed the financial resources, Wauchope would undoubtedly have competed for Ellie's services with the poachers.

Ellie, still only 19, was an instantaneous success in rugby union.

Playing netball as a girl, her athleticism and strength attracted immediate attention in her first year of rugby with the Thunder at 17 years of age.

As it was, South Sydney won Ellie over and lured her to the city lights.

Under the terms of the Rabbitohs' agreements with all of their women players, each is contracted to the club for a single year at a time.

It's marvellous how simple rugby of either variety can be for a person gifted with Ellie's strength and speed - and her truck-load of talent.

As Ellie expressed it: "I gave rugby union a go and found it was easy to make the transition from netball. When I changed to rugby league, I just used the same skills."

Ellie has engaged in three trials for the Rabbitohs and played in her first game for the club in the second row, although she played as a damaging centre for the Wauchope Thunder.

And then coronavirus intervened, stopping all sport in its tracks, and life in general.

The hope is Ellie may one day return to rugby union, perhaps to compete in an Olympic Games for Australia, although without expectations for Tokyo next year.

The local Kennards Hire rugby union premiership was due to start on Saturday, April 4.

The plague has put an end to that hope, the earliest kick-off now being July.

The first round draw was: Wauchope Thunder v Manning River Ratz at Wauchope; Old Bar Clams v Wallamba Bulls at Richard Crook Field, Old Bar; Forster Tuncurry Dolphins v Gloucester Cockies at Peter Barclay Field, Tuncurry.

Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Great Lakes Advocate newsletter here.