Simaima Taufa named as Roosters foundation women’s captain
CHOOSING a captain for the inaugural Roosters women’s team was a big call for coach Adam Hartigan. She needed to tick a lot of boxes. One stood out as someone who can lead the side for a long time.
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CHOOSING a captain for the inaugural Roosters women’s team was a big call for coach Adam Hartigan.
It’s a significant position. The Roosters are the only club to be a foundation member of the men’s and women’s competitions.
Whoever was chosen to stand alongside Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend as the Sydney Roosters club captains needed to tick a lot of boxes.
Hartigan was not short of options.
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In his team is NSW captain Maddie Studdon and Ruan Sims, who has captained the Blues and Jillaroos during her long career.
There is Queensland captain Karina Brown; Lavina O’Mealey who has captained Redfern All Blacks and South Sydney and Elianna Walton who has the most caps for NSW.
But one player stood out as Hartigan checked off what he was looking for.
Simaima Taufa is the reigning Dally M Women’s Player of the Year. She’s an on-field machine who leads with her strong carries and big hits.
A well-liked member of the women’s football community, she’s the type of player others want to be alongside.
She’s represented at every level and just last month led Mounties to a surprise premiership in the NSWRL women’s competition.
Given how players were drawn to the club because of her presence, making her the captain seemed the right choice.
“Not only do we have a lot of captains, but we have a lot of girls with big-game experience,” Hartigan said.
“But we think that ‘Maims’ has bought into the Roosters’ culture really well. She’s involved part-time as a staff member in our community and we know that she’ll lead from the front on the field.
“(With recruiting for the women’s team), it was who do we have to get and who’s going to come with that person?
“We found after a lot of conversations with players and people involved with women’s footy, Maims was a big fish and everything kind of fell after she committed. As soon as she put pen to paper, that news got around to other girls and then they were keen to get on board and be part of the Roosters.”
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That was one of the challenges Hartigan and Roosters manager of football partnerships and programs, Craig Walker, found when assembling the squad from scratch.
How do you get the balance right?
Hartigan is the men’s recruitment manager, so knows a thing or two about it. But that team only has a few player movements each season.
This was about getting talented players who could click from the start and go on to win the whole thing — as they were instructed to do by chairman Nick Politis.
Taufa, they felt, had the respect among the players to be able to bring all that together, similar to a men’s player the Roosters once recruited.
“Certainly you can build a team around Simaima, because she just ticked every box. High work rate, that’s the first one, you want someone who can play every minute,” Walker said. “It’s punishing defence, it’s quality runs.
“She’s not a Sonny Bill, run out wide, ball in one hand or hold people off, but she has the same type of aura and is the same type of individual where she’s very professional. She trains very hard; we have to hold her back a little bit.
“She’s very dedicated to her craft like Sonny was and off the field is a good leader. And she will be a role model for the younger girls coming through our squad in years to come.”
Legacy is something the new Roosters captain is already thinking about.
The club has a five-year licence for a women’s team and Taufa is contracted for one, but it seems the club has Taufa for life.
“When I was told that I was officially (captain) I was nervous because at the end of the day it comes with massive responsibility to lead a team out there, but … we’re a group of girls who will help drive one another and bring out the best of each other,” Taufa said.
“I see the hard work (at the Roosters) behind the scenes, that they go beyond, that the girls are getting what they deserve and really look after their welfare. It’s what I’m all about, the players’ welfare on and off the field.
“If I do my job right and hopefully inspire the next generation, I plan to be part of the Roosters’ family as long as they’ll have me.”