Knights star Millie Boyle believes the growth of women's professional sport in Australia is helping girls navigate body image issues.
Boyle, with Knights teammates Hannah Southwell and Makenzie Weale, opened up about her experiences as a teenager on Thursday at the launch of a national "Body Kind" survey aimed at better understanding the body image experiences of people aged between 12 and 18.
The Butterfly Foundation, a charity helping people impacted by eating disorders and body image issues, has created the survey in partnership with health fund nib.
As a teenager, Boyle said like plenty of others, she went through a period questioning how she should look. Her thoughts were conflated by being a young athlete playing multiple sports.
"Growing up, as a female athlete but without a presence of other female athletes out there of their ideal look or shape, in different sports that look so different, I was trying to fit a mold that I didn't know what I needed to be," the 24-year-old said.
"I was very confident in myself but I still had those thoughts going through my head, and it probably just shows that we all go through things like this.
"The influence was so mixed that it's hard to narrow your focus on what you want to be.
"With different trends that come and go, it's easy to get lost."
Boyle said given the recent growth of women's sport, young females now had a far greater mix and range of role-models to help navigate body image experiences.
"Girls can now look at girls that are playing sports, whether it's rugby or AFL or soccer ... whatever it is, there are people there that are all different shapes and sizes," she said.
"Someone can say, you know what - I didn't fit this mold, but I do fit this ... I'm not so different to what I thought I needed to be."
Boyle, who is preparing to face her old club Brisbane in the season opener this month, said the new-look Newcastle squad had hit the ground running during their past fortnight of training.
"The girls are gelling really well, it's a short preseason so there's not much room for error," the prop said.
The Knights play at home on Sunday, August 21. The 6pm game follows the NRL match against Canberra.
The women will be out to score their first victory after failing to win a game in their maiden season earlier this year.
