While the Women’s Super League is the elite standard of competition, there is still some way to go before players like Roche and England team-mate Tara-Jane Stanley can enjoy the full-time status afforded to players in Australia’s Women’s National Rugby League.
Thus, it is a case of juggling her schedule around daily life, paying the bills and staying at peak fitness.
“I think it will take a few more years to get anywhere near that point,” Roche said. “But hopefully it does and it will inspire young girls to play and be part of the rugby league family.
“I go to work, go to training and I’m learning to drive as well – it’s just about fitting everything in.
“I’m quite lucky because I get Mondays off, the odd Monday I have to go in and I’m aching, it’s awful.”
Leeds-born Roche is a typically blunt Yorkshirewoman and far from diva-ish about the demands of the sport.
“You get on with it, don’t you?” she says, without flinching. “If you want to do something then you’ll just do it, won’t you?
“It’s an attitude you have to have if you want to play rugby league at the highest level.”