IT'S not often a brother and a sister are both pulling on the Western Rams jersey in the same season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
But siblings Xanthe and Nick Booth have been lucky enough to do just that, representing the women and men senior teams respectively.
Xanthe is currently in her second campaign for the Rams, while Nick pulled on the famous green jumper for the first last Sunday.
There's no sibling rivalry between the two of them, as they both shared some kind words for other's achievements.
In fact Nick was quick to say he's in his sister's shadow.
"She's a far better footballer than me already," he said.
"It didn't take long. I'm pretty proud of her. She's come a fair way in a short time.
"It's been pretty cool to watch what she's doing."
Xanthe was more than welcome to return the niceties.
"I'm very proud of him, considering he's had a few injuries," she said.
"He's a very humble person. He didn't think he'd make Group 10 and then he did. And then he didn't think he'd make Rams and then he made it.
"It's so awesome."
It's all on the line against Monaro
IT'S all on the line when Xanthe Booth and her Western Rams teammates go up against Monaro at Cootamundra on Sunday.
A win will book Western a place in the NSWRL Country Women's Championship decider, but a loss means it'll all be over.
Western is fresh of a massive 68-6 win over Riverina on February 25, but Sunday's match won't be as easy.
Monaro are the reigning champions, flogging Newcastle-Maitland 34-0 in last year's decider.
So understandably, Booth is feeling quite nervous, but still remains confident that her team has enough talent to get the job done.
"I think it's going to be really exciting and a high-quality game of footy," she said.
"Monaro won it last year, so they're kind of the benchmark. If we can get this win, that'll be huge for everyone."
This is Booth's second season playing for the Rams, after receiving a late call-up to the squad in 2023 as the back-up hooker.
And now she's made that position her own.
"I made it my mission to get that spot," she said.
"I saw the girl with the number nine shirt last year and I said to myself, 'I'd like to have that on my back next year'.
"It's pretty surreal to actually achieved that."
Kick-off at Fisher Park is at 1.20pm.
Nick makes most of first senior call-up
LAST Saturday's game against Northern Tigers was Nick Booth's first taste of Western action in almost six years.
His one and only taste of that iconic green jumper was in 2018, when he was called up to the Western under 18s team.
And while Rams lost 16-14, the St Pat's forward was ecstatic to get his first taste of senior Rams action.
"I was pretty lucky there were a few blokes ahead of me that were unavailable, so I ended up getting the call up," he said.
"I was pretty happy to start it and I took the kick-off, so I was straight into it."
He described the match against Northern as "really physical".
"They were hard and played straight through the middle," he said.
"The first 30 minutes, we were just on the back foot. They were winning the ruck and we couldn't catch our breath.
"We were down 16-0 at the start but towards the back end of the first half, we started to turn it around, getting into them a bit more in defence and driving them back.
"We got a bit more ball and started putting a few points on but we still couldn't get it done."
