A sliding doors moment in the stellar shot put career of Chelsea Lenarduzzi in 2018 opened the door for the Brisbane prop to join an elite premiership-winning club.
The 30-year-old enforcer, along with teammates Julia Robinson and Ali Brigginshaw, are on the brink of winning five titles with the Broncos in Sunday's grand final against the Sydney Roosters.
Only Broncos greats Kevin Walters and Michael Hancock, who is on staff with the NRLW side, have achieved the feat.
Broncos NRLW captain Tamika Upton has a record five NRLW titles but only Lenarduzzi, Robinson and Brigginshaw have won four at the same club.
Lenarduzzi was the open women's national shot put champion in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and was on track for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
"I was pretty close for the Gold Coast in 2018," Lenarduzzi told AAP.
"I won the national title that year but the qualifier changed. I got the old qualifier but they put it up a bit that year so I missed out.
"Track and field is so hard because it is very individual and self-funded. I started playing rugby league before the NRLW existed but when that took off in 2018 it was pretty hard to say no."
Ever since her 2018 debut the Queensland and Australia representative has made a habit of shining on the biggest stage. She has scored 22 tries in 68 games, including barnstorming four-pointers in the 2019 and 2020 grand finals.
"The feeling of winning is really special," Lenarduzzi said.
"You don't really know what it feels like until you have done it and then once you have done it you want to help other people experience it."
Former Broncos winger Hancock's feat is compelling to Lenarduzzi and strengthened by his involvement with the NRLW team.
"He is very humble but we remind him that he has won five premierships," Lenarduzzi said.
"We celebrated last week with a few staff members who had been with our program for 50 games and he is one of them.
"He was on the original staff in 2018 and came back when Scott Prince became head coach. He is in logistics this year but he has been in strength and conditioning, a coach, and he still helps a lot of the outside backs."
Lenarduzzi said it was "special" to have been on her entire journey with "four-peat" teammates Robinson and Brigginshaw.
Now it is time to hunker down and make it a famous five premierships against the undefeated Roosters.
"I love the Broncos and I am going to make it count," Lenarduzzi said.
