Pickers put a focus on players' mental health

Kacee Rhodes, who is the club's first welfare officer, has been a mental health nurse for 14 years.

The Rutherford-raised nurse and psychology graduate has worked in hospitals both in Maitland and abroad, and now she's bringing her vast knowledge to the Pickers.

Currently Ms Rhodes is working primarily with the new women's tackle side, helping players mentally both on and off the field.

"I'm working closely with the women's team, so I work pretty much doing a lot of mental health support for them, whether it's performance based or managing mental health stuff that's not related to the game at all," she said.

Throughout her career Ms Rhodes has had experience with a wide range of mental illnesses and disorders, and she has just completed a Bachelor of Psychology with Honours.

"I have a really big interest in knowing the good, the bad, the ugly about someone, and then especially with sports psychology once you figure that out you understand how someone works and then what will motivate them," she said.

Ms Rhodes said she is blown away by how supportive the Pickers women are of each other, especially being a newly formed team.

She works with the players both one-on-one and in a group setting. "Each session that I'm working with them I'm learning more from them as to what we can achieve," Ms Rhodes said.

"My role pertains to them being the best that they can be when they step on their field with their head in the game."

Ms Rhodes said she can help players with everything from managing personal problems on the field to anxiety.

"Some people have a lot of things going on in their personal life so it's like okay, how can we manage that so that when you're on the field it's not taking over your mindset, because it can impact your play and influence how you perform," she said.

"It could be okay, do we have anxiety before we go on the field? It's no different to a swimmer on the starting block or an athlete before they start a 100 metre sprint, you get that anxiety and it's normal but can you control it and then utilise it to perform better."

Ms Rhodes said she hopes her work will help the players feel more confident in themselves. "These women I'm working with are already so phenomenal as they are because they want to do better, they're only going to get better so by the end of the season I hope to see them being so confident," she said.