There's commitment to the team and then there's what Sarah Price went through for the Goannas' under 12s Western Women's Rugby League side on the weekend.
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Based at Forbes in NSW's Central West, Sarah and her family awoke on Saturday morning to find floodwaters had risen throughout their street and into their yard.
Thankfully, no water had got in the house but the chances of Sarah getting to Wellington to play for the Goannas against the Panorama Platypi looked slim.
"We were originally going to drive because it wasn't that deep but when we woke up the next morning (Saturday) it would have been above the height of the floor of a vehicle," Sarah's father, Damien, said.
"She asked if she would still be able to go and I told her we'd sort something out. We just didn't know it was going to be that high and she said she wanted to make it for the team.
"So we jumped in the boat and went around and out our front gate in the tinnie."
The father-daughter boat ride at roughly 6.30am went along Bedgerebong Road and up Edwards Street and when the water got to a level below Damien's knee, he jumped out and dragged the tinnie the last little bit before Sarah was able to meet a teammate and her family who gave her a lift to Wellington.
"She didn't want to let the team down because she thought there was some others who might not be able to get there," Damien said.
The Prices weren't the only family in Forbes who went to great lengths to get to weekend's games.
Some - like Sarah's teammate Macey Frost - were unable to get out of their property so were forced to miss Saturday's games while others also relied on boats and assistance to get to Wellington.
The Price family has lived in their current location for roughly a decade and Damien said he had never seen water levels like those experienced on the weekend during the worst flood in 70 years at Forbes.
"We were here in 2016 and there was no water in the yard," he said, looking back at previous floods.
"When we heard all this water was coming we checked a few things and asked a few people about heights.
"If it had got to another 400 or 500 (millimetres) deep it would have come into the house but our house is the same level or a bit higher than the 1952 flood level.
"It was over my knee deep in the shed but we'd emptied that earlier. It had been flowing like a river down Bedgerebong Road and it was crazy how fast it was flowing and how deep it was."
Unfortunately for outside back Sarah, her Goannas side suffered a narrow 30-26 loss to the Platypi on Saturday but that did little to dent her love for the game.
Like so many of her under 12s teammates, this year marks the first time Sarah has played in the tackle format and she's quickly fallen in love with the game under first-year coach Dean Matthews.
Damien said Matthews has gone "above and beyond" this year to help the newly-formed team drawing in players from around the Group 11 rugby league region to gel.
"They're still all learning and starting to function really well as a group. They're really enjoying it and she enjoyed the game like she always does," he said.
"She loves working with the team and she didn't want to let them down. They want to try and win like every team."
When it was time to head home Sarah got a lift again and gave her family a call when they got to nearby Parkes.
Damien got the boat out again and went to meet her and got to hear all about how her trip to the game was a real topic of conversion among the Goannas, with coach Matthews going out of his way to praise her commitment to the team.
"She said everyone was asking about how it was going and she was a bit excited about it," Damien said.
"She was just keen to play with the girls. She talks a lot so she would have let everyone know."
This situation in Forbes has now eased after water levels peaked on Saturday.
The clean-up has begun and Damien said on Tuesday morning there was plenty of noise from chainsaws cutting up trees which had come down during the flood.
As devastating as the flood was for many, community spirit was also on show and the smallest gesture like another family giving Sarah a lift to footy was appreciated while Damien was like many in town who helped other sandbag their homes.
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"I feel sorry for the people out there who have lost anything at all. Even some water in the house is bad enough," Damien said.
"There's no water around our placer now. It's all receded while some spots back to just ankle deep.
"People are on the clean-up and hopefully that's the last of it now for awhile.
"There were people who were way, way worse off than what we were. Hopefully their places aren't too bad and they can move on and clean-up and keep going.
"It's not good for things like your mental health when you're trying to save your house and you just can't. I can't even imagine what it would be like."
And as for what he did to help his daughter get to a game and do something which will no doubt be a story for her for life?
"I'd do it for anyone and any parent would," Damien said.
"I'm no more special than anyone else."
The Goannas under 12s are third on the ladder and travel to Grenfell to play Woodbridge in the penultimate round of the regular season on Sunday.
Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
