It may have started as a dare in a pub, but Eels forward Paige Travis has turned that moment into a remarkable journey from England to the NRLW.
“My nan used to have a pub back in England, and someone came in who used to coach the women’s and girls’ rugby team at Littleborough. He used to dare me that I wasn’t tough enough to come to training,” Travis told NRL.com.
Aiming to prove him wrong, Travis turned up and – having only ever done gymnastics – was immediately hooked, despite getting injured at her first training session.
“I bought some boots and I went down and I never looked back,” Travis said.
English secondrower Paige Travis is enjoying her first season in the NRLW with the Eels.
©NRL Photos
“I sprained my ankle in the first training session and my mum was like, ‘right, don’t go back now, you’ve proved your point’, and I was like, ‘no, I’m going back’, and then I’ve just never stopped.”
Since that training session, Travis has played for England at the Rugby League World Cup in 2022 and in Las Vegas against the Jillaroos earlier this year, before joining the Eels.
An invaluable member of the St Helens side that won four consecutive Challenge Cup finals and a Women’s Super League grand final in 2021, the 26-year-old secondrower has appeared in every match for Parramatta this season.
And, after initially asking her to give up the sport and not go to training again, Travis’ mother has now become her biggest supporter.
One of the loudest people in the crowd cheering her daughter on at games, she even flew from England to watch Parramatta’s Round 3 win in Canberra.
“I think she was a bit shocked to see me come home with muddy knees and boots and a half-broken ankle, but after a while, she really got into it,” Travis said.
“We laugh about it but once she got her head around me not being hurt she was just the liveliest person at all the games.”
Having turned her dream into a reality, Travis expects more English players to join her and England team-mates Francesca Goldthorp, Georgia Roche and Hollie-Mae Dodd in making the switch to the NRLW.
“I think in the next couple of years, we’ll definitely see more coming through,” Travis said.
“We’ve got loads of great young talent in England just breaking into pathways now, and I think in the next upcoming years and maybe after the World Cup [in 2026], we’ll see even more.
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“At the end of the day you’re better off doing something than regretting not doing it.
“Just enjoy it and come out here and give it a go because you actually find a family and a team around you that are just so supportive and loving. I’m very lucky and very honoured to be here.”
Travis has been named on the interchange for Saturday’s Round 7 clash with the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.