The move paid off with squad numbers looking strong for the Cooks Hill Brown Snakes' maiden campaign, which kicked off away to Nelson Bay on Saturday. The team's first match saw them cop a loss of 60-0, but with the Wanderers women's team inviting them to training, it shouldn't take long for the players to find their fire.

The team is mostly comprised of partners, sisters, friends or colleagues of the Brown Snakes men's side, many who had never laced a footy boot before or even played team sport.

And, a handful came through an unlikely source.

"Players have come from all over," Iacono said.

"We managed to get quite a few WAGs or people who were associated with people who were already associated with the club.

"We randomly got five or six people through creating a Tinder account for the club. It was a pretty ingenious idea. We had women swiping on us, saying, 'Hey, I'm really interested in women's sport and getting involved'.

"So we've done a lot to recruit but we'd like to get as many people involved as we can. We're really just trying to showcase how easy it is to get involved with no experience. That's really what we're all about."

The 26-year-old lawyer had little sporting experience but was keen to get involved after watching her partner play last year.

"I got to know a few WAGs on the sidelines and decided to jump in on the idea of a women's team," Iacono said.

"I go to the gym a bit but I don't have a sporting background at all. But it's just such a great group of girls that it's just so much fun and I've stuck around."

She was keen to line up in the Brown Snakes' forward pack and said her body was "slowly starting to get used to it" after being "very sore for the first few weeks".

"It's been hard but we've had some really great coaches in the boys rotating and training us and teaching us different skills," Iacono said.

"We've got some old boys teaching us. One of the boys' dads has come in and coached us for the latter half of the sevens season, so it's been great learning off lots of different sorts of people.

"But I feel like we're all starting to get it now."

Bonnie Bremner is the captain of the Brown Snakes, whose home base is "the Snakepit" at Empire Park, where the club are now focused on pushing for improved facilities to accommodate its rapid growth from one team to three this year.

The 24-year-old occupational therapist, whose brother plays in one of Cooks Hill's men's teams, got a small taste of rugby in high school and is also likely to play in the forwards.

"It's new to all of us but we're getting the hang of it," Bremner said.

"We played the sevens summer competition, which went better than we expected. We got better and better every week and everyone's confidence has grown a lot.

"Now, we're switching that mindset into a 15s mindset and just taking in as much as we can. The goal for the season is mostly to have fun and to support each other and make the club the best we can.

"We want to make a great name for women's sport and a great name for the Brown Snakes, keeping the culture really positive and inclusive."

Competition heavyweights Wanderers doubled down with the minor and major premiership last season, beating Hamilton 10-5 in the grand final to continue their dominance.

Two Blues captain Britney Duff welcomed Cooks Hill's inclusion to take the competition to eight teams.

"It's always great to see the competition expanding and it's nice to see that the game is growing," Duff said.