Kathy Tuckwell will join the board next season after eight nominations were received for the eight positions.

Jack Morton, Peter Ryan, Ray Carr, Brian Walker, Ken Keenan, Larry Collins and Timoci Vatabuli will all remain on the board with the only change being Tuckwell, in affect, replacing Terry Sloan.

Ryan, the Group Nine operations manager, believes it will be a positive change to have a female influence.

“She will bring a lot to the board,” Ryan said.

“I have talked to her from Gundagai and she has a lot of good ideas and it seems like she will be an asset to the board.”

The move continues the rise of females in sports administration roles traditionally dominated by men across the country.

Tuckwell was surprised to be the first woman to hold the position and is looking to use to role to help the existing board members keep rugby league thriving in the region.

“I think being so passionate about rugby league is it the next step to support the current board members, and they need support,” Tuckwell said.

“Rugby league in the country is dying and unless we fix it and support it each other bad things are going to happen.

“That is my main reason for doing it.”

One aspect Tuckwell, who lives in Gundagai, wants to focus on is helping the smaller clubs.

“Gundagai is a very strong club and are lucky to be a strong club but there are other clubs who aren’t that lucky and they need some more support,” Tuckwell said.

“Somehow we have to help them.”

Tuckwell also has a fine pedigree for Group Nine administration with her father, Maurie Kelly, a long-serving president of Group Nine.

She is looking to bring some of his wisdom into the role.

“At the end of the day you just want to make sure decisions are fair decisions across Group Nine and not people taking on decisions for their own benefits,” Tuckwell said. “It is about the big picture and I believe that is what my father did.”