But now the musical theatre performer and gymnastics teacher has added a third string to her bow as part of the ACT Brumbies squad for the inaugural Super W season.

She's not the only Brumbies player with a unique background - they've got correction workers, touch players, netballers and a rugby World Cup winner in their ranks.

Coach Tony Doherty laughs "the fact everyone knows each other's name is a great start".

The Super W season begins on March 3 and features the Brumbies, Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs, Melbourne Rebels and Western Australia.

For O'Neill it has been a long time coming and she has shelved plans to shine on stage for bruising tackles and barnstorming runs.

"I love expressing myself in [arts] as well as rugby. I still do it but not to that extent anymore, just because when I do something I really want to do it well, so I've concentrated on rugby," O'Neill said.

"I love theatre, singing, dancing, all that type of thing. Late evenings and on weekends [last year] were pretty much just rehearsing, building sets, working on our characters.

"I remember trying to juggle rugby with that. After rugby I would race over to rehearsals. It was a bit too much for both of them, I ended up doing them but I found that you had to sacrifice one thing.

"I wasn't playing rugby as well because I was just doing too many things, so I made that decision to follow rugby more seriously."

O'Neill was a fringe Wallaroos player two years ago after she committed to the 15-a-side game when injury dashed her hopes of a national sevens debut, and now she is refreshed and raring to return to that level.

The Uni-Norths flanker started her rugby journey on the sidelines, watching her brother progress through junior Brumbies and Australian teams - now she is picking up where he left off.

The workload has been hectic, with two morning sessions a week capped off with three training sessions at night adding to O'Neill's crazy schedule.

But the 21-year-old wouldn't change a thing.

"I never really thought that far ahead [to the point of women getting an elite competition], I always thought it would just be the same because it's been like that for I don't know how many years," O'Neill said.

"I know Cookie [Louise Burrows], she's been playing for a long time and now that it's truly coming out, we're getting exposure and we're actually in an elite comp, it's like 'this is really happening'."

Burrows joins the likes of Shellie Milward, Michelle Perry, Kate Brown and New Zealand's Charlene Gubb in leading the charge.

They were the headline acts in a group of 45 players put through their paces by Doherty as he looked to find a squad for the groundbreaking competition.

"We've got about six that have never actually played 15-a-side rugby, they've come from varying backgrounds," Doherty said.

"A couple of them were in sevens programs last year, a couple were in league sides. It's more a case of us being able to find a position for them and basically build them the skills around that area.

"A massive variance of players, but it's been excellent, the fact that it's added so many different dimensions to the way we play the game."

Few outside Canberra give them a chance, but Doherty isn't interested in rating his side against their rivals - he says it's up to the opposition to stop the Brumbies from running riot.

Doherty has already seen enough to be convinced Super W will eventually turn professional - it will be a big leap, and it all begins in March.

ACT Brumbies: Emerena Aviga, Brittney-lee Bedford, Kate Brown, Louise Burrows, Skye Churchill, Peta Cox, Harriet Elleman, Charlene Gubb, Jess Howard, Anna Korovata, Michaela Leonard, Irene Macarthur, Shellie Milward, Georgia O'Neill, Tayla Stanford, Merrin Starr, Violeta Tupuola, Tania Afamasaga, Izzy Atkinson-Smith, Kiahan Bell-Chambers, Kasey Dragisic, Courtney Frankl, Jane Garraway, Ash Kara, Paremo Marsh, Kiara Meredith-Brown, Michelle Perry, Darcy Read, Cecelia Smith, Talei Wilson, Remi Wilton.