![Former Young Matilda Sheridan Gallagher has joined the Knights for the 2023 NRLW season. Picture by Peter Lorimer Former Young Matilda Sheridan Gallagher has joined the Knights for the 2023 NRLW season. Picture by Peter Lorimer](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/max.mckinney/fd380c73-475f-43c6-9d18-73d35bb01986.JPG/r0_358_5369_3579_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Sheridan Gallagher was well on her way to making a career out of soccer.
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Last August, she skippered Australia's national side at the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica.
Little more than two months ago, she was part of the Western Sydney Wanderers' A-League Women team.
But after becoming dissatisfied in the round-ball sport, she decided to give rugby league a go. Now, after playing just two league games, she is part of the Newcastle Knights' NRLW squad.
"I just wasn't enjoying soccer as much as I hoped," Gallagher told the Newcastle Herald, speaking for the first time as a Knights player, during the second week of pre-season training.
"I just wanted to challenge myself a bit more.
"I finished the season with Wanderers, and the following week I was running out with Mounties [in the NSW Women's Premiership]."
The 21-year-old, who briefly played Oztag but "stuck to soccer" through high school, is part of Newcastle's top-24 player roster. Knights coach Ronald Griffiths admitted he had not seen any of Gallagher's soccer exploits, but saw enough in two rugby league games to offer her a contract.
![Knights NRLW recruit Sheridan Gallagher. Picture by Peter Lorimer Knights NRLW recruit Sheridan Gallagher. Picture by Peter Lorimer](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/max.mckinney/772e0a3d-c4ce-4d6f-88a4-06893fa516c5.JPG/r0_476_5350_3567_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"With the development of women's rugby league from semi-professional to professional, at this point in time it allows for multi-disciplinary athletes to transfer across and thrive," he said.
"With Sheridan ... she impressed with her athletic ability ... and desire to compete. After watching those two games ... we thought she would be a great fit for our club and community, and that's proven so already.
"She has invested in our community from the word go. Now it's up to us to put the tools around her."
A former Westfields Sports High student, winning the school's Sports Person of the Year award in 2019, Gallagher played fullback for Mounties but did not make enough appearances to play in the grand final in late April.
Ironically, the side beat Canterbury in the decider by a soccer-style score of 1-0.
Gallagher and Griffiths aren't yet sure what position she'll play. She is "scared" but "excited" for what's to come.
"The team here, the girls and the culture that Ronnie has built, is something that I've never experienced before, very welcoming," she said. "The girls have helped me a lot and I've only been here two weeks now. I'm just hoping to build on that."
Hailing from Douglas Park in the Macarthur, Gallagher had a brother that played a sole season of junior rugby league, but that's the only fleeting link she has had to the sport until this year. She did follow the NRL growing up though. "Sadly, a Wests Tigers fan," she joked.
"I was the big fish in a little pond playing soccer. To make that jump across, I'm [now] the little fish in the big pond. But it's a challenge I want to take with both hands and try end up at the top."
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