What a difference a week makes.
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Alanna Dummett began the year as a development player at the Raiders, but was added to the club's top-24 NRLW squad just earlier this month following Felice Quinlan's season-ending ankle injury.
Now this weekend the Bega product is set to make her NRLW debut, after a meteoric rise in the last 12 months.
Dummett, 19, has come through the Raiders system, playing in the Tarsha Gale Cup and Katrina Fanning Shield for Yass Magpies.
Last year she was selected in the NSW Under-19s squad, and to further her development she joined Raiders feeder club Mounties in the NSW Women's Premiership, winning the title with a handful of other Canberra NRLW players.
Mackenzie Wiki is set to be sidelined up to three weeks with a lower leg injury, which has opened the door for Dummett to step in at centre.
"I'm really happy for Alanna," coach Darrin Borthwick said ahead of the Raiders' trip to Wollongong to play the Dragons on Saturday.
"She's come through our junior pathways here and she took the opportunity to develop herself even more by going up to Sydney in the Women's Premiership, and she's come back a better player, and deserves her chance.
"I think she was obviously very surprised and very humbled by the opportunity."
Teammate Tara Reinke warned that Dummett's speed will be a real weapon for the Raiders.
"She gasses me in everything that we do," the prop said. "I'm actually really excited for her."
The Raiders will be out to extend their winning streak to three games against the Dragons, and they'll have to be ready from the get-go with their earliest kick-off this season at 11am.
Borthwick isn't concerned about the earlier kick-off time though, with the team travelling down from Canberra on Friday after their captain's run.
"All pre-season we trained on a Saturday morning, so we're on field at 9am," Borthwick said. "So it's not something they're not used to."
The Raiders are keen to stamp out their late game fade-outs which has invited teams back into the contest, despite their momentous victories.
"If you said to me six months ago that we'd be two [wins] out of three, that would have been pretty optimistic," Borthwick said.
"We've been pretty competitive, but last week [against the Tigers] there were times in the game that we could have been a little better.
"That's something we're going to have to be working on.
"This is the NRLW, you can't have lapses in the game at any stage. [The Tigers] gave us a little bit of a scare at the back end, but I think we'll learn from that, and we'll be better, making sure we close out games in the future."
NRLW Round Four
St George Illawarra Dragons v Canberra Raiders at Wollongong, Saturday 11am
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