This weekend more than 60 Mount Isa women lined up to play rugby league in North Queensland's first all-female exhibition match.

And, as the fastest growing sport in Queensland, the locals were not surprised.

Queensland Rugby League said female participation in the sport increased 30 per cent in 2016 with over 11,000 women and girls playing the game in the state.

Aside from winning the clash against the Normanton and Doomadgee combined team, the Mount Isa team has high hopes for the sport's future.

Player Isaiah Retchford, who comes from a family of NRL players, said she was thrilled to be able to finally don a jersey in a team of her own.

"I got interested in the sport because of my father — he played for the Newcastle Knights," Ms Retchford said.

"My sister represented Marlins in Queensland, and so did my brother, so it's pretty much in my family.

"I remember playing when I was young down here, and girls weren't allowed to play because it was a bit rough, but it didn't faze us."

Just some of the sixty women who put their hands up to play rugby league in Mount Isa. ( Supplied: Leeanne Martin )

Women's NRL has growing interest

NRL development officer Nelson Dotoi, who has been promoting the code in schools across the state's north-west, said he was happily surprised by the burgeoning support.

"At the moment we have a team here in Mount Isa, and [with] the number of girls that we have, we could divide it into two teams," Mr Dotoi said.

"It's a big thing, not only for the town of Mount Isa but for the girls.

"It gives them an opportunity to get out there, showcase their skills and ability in the game to show them that there is a pathway in rugby league for them to go forward and pursue a career in it."

Renae Kunst, a professional player with the national women's rugby league team, the Jillaroos, travelled to Mount Isa for the game.

She wanted to scout talent and mentor players and said she had high hopes for women's rugby league.

"The women's game doesn't lack the talent [or] the determination," she said.

"It's only been since 2013 that Australian women's rugby league has come under the NRL banner, and from then we've seen the game go from strength to strength, so it's exciting times."

Prejudice still exists say players

Despite official acceptance, Ms Kunst said she was still exposed to prejudice around female participation.

"It's certainly out there, it's certainly around. Women's rugby league was always seen as a bit of an exhibition, a bit of a giggle, dare I say," Ms Kunst said.

But Ms Kunst said as exposure with the national and state teams continues to grow, the prejudice has decreased.

"We're getting these girls when they're younger, and the under-14s and under-16s play at a carnival with the boys, so people are seeing this exposure and their opinions are changing," she said.

"Gone are the days where women belonged in the canteen and washing the jerseys."

And while Ms Kunst is thrilled to play rugby league at a national level, she said starting women's teams in towns like Mount Isa was about more than the sport itself.

"It's the girls and the women that you're empowering, not only to play our sport, but just to be active and just to belong to something — it's something that I'm grateful to be a part of," she said.

Mr Dotoi said while rugby league remained a male-dominated sport, the code was aiming for women's teams to grow just as popular.

"We'd like to push the women's rugby league, and hopefully each club within an area has their own girls' rugby league, right up to their ladies rugby league," he said.