On the field, the debut season of the Canberra Raiders women’s rugby league team is closing in on an unexpected achievement. Off it, the players have already effected lasting change.

“We had a Canberra airport worker go like, ‘my granddaughter was a dancer and she’s always loved dancing, but she got to watch you girls on telly and she wants to play rugby league now,’” co-captain Simaima Taufa says.

The side didn’t exist six months ago – Taufa was the first signing in March – but this weekend the Raiders can secure an improbable place in the NRLW finals. Their success has helped ease the pain of the men’s Raiders team, who narrowly lost in the NRL finals against Newcastle on Sunday.

The club’s chief executive, Don Furner, credits the side’s fortunes to its camaraderie. “There’s a lot of work that has to be done to get them here, but they’re very, very close and I think possibly because they didn’t have a lot of family here, or anyone to fall back on, they relied on each other a lot,” he says.

Taufa, an established NRLW player living in Sydney and 2017 Dally M player of the year, took a chance when moving to Canberra. “The move was like a breath of fresh air. I just wanted this club to be as successful and I just wanted to make sure I got out of my comfort zone,” she says.

Driven by experienced halves pairing Zahara Temara and Ash Quinlan and fullback Apii Nicholls, the Raiders have surprised the competition. But just getting a team on to the field has been an achievement in itself.

The semi-professional nature of the NRLW means players tend to move temporarily for the season and often need other jobs to top up their playing salary, which averages $37,500 for approximately five months’ work. “We had to provide accommodation, transport, electricity, water, gas, find a job and relocation, flights,” Furner says. “So it’s a big, big task.”

Some, like Taufa, work at the club. Others have taken jobs with sponsors, or people connected with the Raiders. A minority, like forward Grace Kemp, were already based in Canberra and have watched the squad assemble. “The weather has been a bit of a shock to those girls that have come from the Gold Coast or Brisbane area,” Kemp says. “But just being able to spend time together as a group, get to know each other off the field, it makes the connection a lot easier on the field.”

Although she was living in Canberra, Kemp was another to take a risk in joining the Raiders. The rugby union international moved to league despite only recently breaking into the Wallaroos. There are parts of the NRLW she is still getting used to. “That up-and-back 10,” she says, laughing. “That’s been my biggest difference. It’s a whole different fitness type and the contact level has been so different for me – I’m so used to tackling low.”

While there have been shocks in adjusting the life in the capital, there have been benefits too. Moving just three hours from Sydney, Taufa has quickly identified the differences. She said she recognises a smaller media and friendlier faces on the street. “For me, it’s slowed down, I’m not sitting in traffic, I realise what’s happening in my day and the community itself is unreal.”

Vivien Banks lives in Brisbane but became a Raiders supporter while in Canberra a decade ago. When the NRLW team joined the competition this year, she quickly adopted the new side.

“I flew down for the first home game, just because I thought it was too big an occasion [to miss],” she says. “There was a big queue to get in, so it was really good to see young Raiders fans could go watch this historic moment and hopefully in maybe 10, 15 years some of those girls will be future NRLW players.”

Banks won’t be making the trip down again this weekend, but she hopes her neighbours don’t mind the noise on Sunday afternoon as the Raiders look to cap off their remarkable regular season with a win.

This season’s other three expansion sides – the Tigers, Sharks and Cowboys – are in the bottom four in the 10-team competition. But the Raiders enter the final round with a five-and-three record. A 12-point victory will guarantee the upstarts a place in the top four. And if Brisbane loses against the Dragons on Saturday, the Canberra players will go into Sunday’s clash knowing any victory – or even a draw – will do.

“The dressing room is aware of the 12 points,” Taufa says. “But we’re more focused on what we need to do better, to make sure that those points will come.”