No time like the present for Tillett after Cowboys debut

Tahlulah Tillett knows she was forced to wait longer than she had hoped to make her Cowboys NRLW debut, but is now determined to make the most of her homecoming as North Queensland's push towards a finals appearance in their inaugural season ramps up.

A hand injury kept Tillett out of the opening three rounds of the 2024 campaign, but patience is something she has had to master during her career so far.

While still only 24, Tillett has overcome her fair share of long-term setbacks including season-ending ACL and MCL injures.

“Obviously, it wasn't ideal to come away with an injury (in pre-season), but that's footy. I know I've been through worse in the past, so this injury was nothing,” Tillett, who made her NRLW debut with Knights in 2021, said.

“I just had to make sure I got in, did my rehab properly and I did that and put all the hard work in. Now finally to be here with the girls has been amazing.

“I was quite close to playing last week, but I ended up going back to local league in Townsville, so it was really good to go back there and just to get a game under my belt and get a bit of confidence back. I got the call up ... and it was awesome to be out there with the girls.”

The daughter of Stephen Tillett, who played reserve grade for the Cowboys in their inaugural season in 1995, and the grand-daughter of well-known North Queensland rugby league administrator Nigel Tillett – who is the current chair of Cowboys feeder club the Northern Pride – it just made sense for her to pull in the club jersey and represent her home region.

“It was an unreal feeling to be able to put on the North Queensland jersey and I was quite emotional after the game. Just getting through and to come away the win, playing alongside these girls, it’s been amazing,” Tillett said.

“To have all my family come down here and be a part of it is amazing as well. I had my family come down from Cairns and then I've got a bit of family from Sunny Coast and Brisbane as well who came down to watch.

“It definitely makes it a bit more special, being able to represent home.

"For me, being from Cairns, North Queensland is my home and with the connection there with my dad as well, to follow in his footsteps and be able to put on that Cowboys jersey, it's really something I'll remember for the rest of my life.”

Tillett picked up a Dally M medal vote after producing two try assists and two line break assists, but the Indigenous All Stars halfback knew her whole team would need to improve again this week against the Sharks, who are hunting for their second win.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we're sticking to our game plan,” Tillett said.

“BJ (coach Ben Jeffries) is a very smart football player and he knows what he's talking about, so when he gives us that blueprint and that game plan, we’ve just got to make sure we stick to it and we'll come away with the results.

“I think we probably gave him a bit of a heart attack (against the Tigers).

“We fell away a little bit there in patches of both halves, but we were able to grind together there and dig deep and come away with the two points.

“I'm looking forward to regrouping this week and working on what we need to and go out again against the Sharks.”