Back from injury, star Waratahs forward leading the way

Waratahs vice-captain Alex Sulusi has become a woman almost possessed with wanting to make her mark on the Super W after she missed last season’s title run because of a freak foot injury.

Alex Sulusi is back and making her mark in this year’s Super W competition.

After spending last year cooling her heels on the sideline, Waratahs vice-captain Alex Sulusi has become a woman almost possessed with wanting to make up for lost time.

Although she is already one of Australia’s most accomplished and versatile players after helping the Jillaroos win the women’s Rugby League World Cup in 2013, it still stings for Sulusi that she missed out on what would have been another career highlight.

Sulusi suffered a freak foot injury just a week before the kick off for last year’s inaugural Super W competition and while she remained heavily involved with the Waratahs, she watched their entire undefeated season from the touchline.

“It was a very bittersweet year,” she told Rugby Central.

“Of course I was so pleased for the girls when they won the title but it was tough not being able to play.”

Queensland winger Ivania Wong wrapped up by the NSW defence at Leichhardt Oval last weekend. Alex Sulusi says she the game is making rapid improvements. Photo: Stu Walmsley, Rugby Australia

Despite having debuted for the Wallaroos as far back as 2014, it was only last month that Sulusi got to play her first Super W match.

Appointed vice-captain and playing in the backrow, Sulusi had a strong game in NSW’s 26-0 win over the Brumbies before raising the bar even higher in last weekend’s 15-12 win over Queensland in a repeat of last year’s grand final.

“For round one in Canberra, I was pretty nervous. I just wanted to get through it uninjured,” she said. “But against Queensland I kind of wanted to step it up and play better.

“It was a bit strange for me because everyone was talking about the grand final rematch but because I I didn’t play last year it didn’t really feel that way to me.

“But once we got on the field and the game really came down to the wire, I could feel what it meant to everyone and it was really special.”

Sulusi got a real surprise when she returned this year because the improvement in women’s rugby is rising so quickly she was almost caught out by how much the game had advanced during her injury lay-off.

“The skill set of the girls is just getting so much better and it’s now so physical that’s it’s getting harder for me to keep up,” she said.

“I reached the pinnacle of the sport in league but I still have so many goals to tick in rugby.

“The girls often ask me would I come back to league but I just love rugby, it’s the sport in my heart at the moment and right now, my goal is to help the Waratahs go back to back.”

Originally published as Back from injury, star Waratahs forward leading the way