Logan teenager Keilee Joseph signs contract with Roosters and pushes for NRLW call-up
Queensland teenager Keilee Joseph has earned a historic contract with NRLW glamour club the Roosters after two years of exhaustive travel between Logan and Sydney when she merely hoped for recognition.
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Queensland teenager Keilee Joseph has earned a historic contract with NRLW glamour club the Roosters after two years of exhaustive travel between Logan and Sydney when she merely hoped for recognition.
Joseph, 18, has become the first Queenslander to come through the Roosters junior women’s system and progress to a senior contract.
The Mabel Park State High School past student will now push for a place in the Roosters NRLW top 22 after making it into the club’s statewide NSW Challenge side where her teammates will be Blues’ State of Origin stars Isabelle Kelly and Hannah Southwell.
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“She has come right through from juniors. They have high hopes she will play NRLW based on what they saw last year and this year,’’ said Keilee’s mother, Cara.
“There is no guarantee, but they are impressed with what she is doing.’’
Joseph said she would move to Sydney the fittest she had been.
“I am feeling very confident and positive for the upcoming competition,’’ the Waterford Demons junior rugby league club product said.
“I am definitely the strongest and fittest I’ve ever been.
“I’m very nervous but excited at the same time.
“Even though I’ve travelled back and forth to compete for the first time I will be away from home for such a lengthy time.’’
For the last two years Joseph has travelled between Brisbane and Sydney to attend Roosters’ training camps and junior fixtures, all the while returning to Logan for school.
In Sydney she would stay with her aunty Kelly and another family, Trina and Loui Lo-Iacono, and at the start of this year she moved in with relations, the McLellan family.
“I’m playing in my first senior women's competition and I will be starting my first full-time job working for Borger Cranes, so it’s all very exciting,’’ said Joseph, who attended Rochedale State School before progressing to Mabel Park SHS.
“My goals for 2020 are to work hard, do everything I can to earn a jersey in the top 17 for the Central Coast Roosters.
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“My aim is to soak up every experience and opportunity which comes my way.
“My ultimate goal will be to work as hard as I possibly can to, with luck, secure a place in the Roosters top 22 squad.
“But regardless the opportunity for experience and development will be something money cannot buy,’’ added Joseph, whose progress has been helped by QAS training and being a member of Queensland’s inaugural under 18 State-of-Origin team last year.
Aside from her playing ability, Joseph also has leadership qualities which have been identified by the Roosters.
Earlier this year Joseph was named captain of the Sydney Roosters indigenous Academy Tarsha Gale Cup under 18 team, and Joseph’s leadership came to the fore when she was referred to as “The Motivator’’ during training sessions.
“I am proud and very fortunate to sign a contract with the Sydney Roosters,’’ she said.
She said earlier this year she recovered from an ankle injury with the help of physio Megan Kelly and teammate Jazmon Tupou-Witchman, but was now good to go.
A second Mabel Park SHS, Rease Casey, is also on the Roosters radar but was injured at the moment.