NRLW: How Dragons gun Keeley Davis went from teen trailblazer to rugby league powerhouse

In her first season of footy this NRLW pioneer had 10 black eyes. Now she’s the one dishing out the punishment as the women’s game moves to new levels of speed, skill and physicality.

The many faces of NRLW pioneer Keeley Davis.

The first season she played professional rugby league Keeley Davis would regularly get in strife from her mum for coming home looking like she’d been in a brawl.

An extraordinary 10 black eyes in a season illustrated that while 162cm Davis still had plenty to learn about protecting herself, she would never be one to shy away from the big hits.

It’s why at just 23, Davis is considered one of the best and toughest in the women’s game.

Now heading into her sixth season of NRLW, she is the one dishing out punishment on the field as one of the most prodigious - and enthusiastic - tacklers in the sport.

And while the youngest player in the inaugural season of NRLW back in 2018, the Illawarra Steelers gun is now one of its most battle hardened.

“I can’t believe how much it has improved, how much better, fitter and stronger everyone is,” said Davis, who herself is five kilos lighter and works as a strength and conditioning coach in a St George Illawarra Dragons program training NSW firefighters.

Broncos Annette Brander is tackled by Dragons Keeley Davis and Jessica Sergis during the NRLW Grand Final between the St George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos.

“It seems like a lifetime ago. I think about it a lot, the standard now compared to what it was. I can’t believe it’’

But Davis does believe this new conditioning of women is a result of the game becoming more professional and players contesting two seasons in one last year due to Covid and the scheduling of a World Cup.

Kezie Apps and Keeley Davis training with the NSW State of Origin team last year.

“The amount of improvement I saw was outstanding,” she said.

“It have us a fitness and toughness and we got to see what the professional environment was like.

League was lucky to nab Davis, now a Blues and Jillaroos star who overcame an ankle injury setback to make her World Cup debut last year.

She hails from a family of rugby union and Waratahs fans and played netball but disliked the sport because it wasn’t “physical enough’’.

Davis said she has always loved the physicality of the game.

She learned to tackle at her local oval at Woonona, near Wollongong, mucking round with brothers Rory and Kurt, played AFL, Oz tag, touch, Rugby Sevens and 15-a-side rugby -

but didn’t start playing rugby league until less than two years before her NRLW debut.

“That was it. Once I played I just loved it,’’ said the former Corrimal Cougars young gun.

“I still do a lot of tackling but I like to be sneaky and cheeky out there as well.’’

Also hindering her progression in the sport was a shock diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, a condition which affects her hips and spine and which cost her an early Origin spot but is now closely monitored and kept in check so she can play.

“The more I move the better,’’ said Davis who has also dislocated both elbows and suffered a bad jaw knock.

Keeley Davis scoring for the Dragons during the NRL Nines 2020 tournament.

“I used to be really stiff, could do much at all, hardly walk at all Now I’m fine.’’

This season NRLW boasts nine rounds to accommodate extra teams.

“They are moving in the right direction with NRLW,’’ Davis said.

“I am loving it. It makes me proud how people love it now so proud of how far we have come and where we are going.

“I just love seeing all the young girls playing it now.’’

The new teams in the 2023 competition are the Cronulla Sharks, Wests Tigers, Cronulla Sharks and North Queensland Cowboys.

AMANDA LULHAMhas covered the women who play in NRLW since the first season, giving an insight into them as people rather than just players, their backstories, what drives them, what inspires them, what motivates them and what fires them up.

She also covers rising stars of both the men’s and women’s game.

Originally published as NRLW: How Dragons gun Keeley Davis went from teen trailblazer to rugby league powerhouse