The fierce faces of the inaugural women’s NRL premiership
WOMEN’S rugby league has grown and barriers have been broken down. To mark the inaugural women’s NRL premiership, here are some of the female players you need to know about.
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THEY’RE just a few of the faces that make up the inaugural women’s NRL premiership.
What they are doing is more than just hitting the footy field. They are a diverse group, from different backgrounds with compelling stories.
Women’s rugby league has grown and barriers have been broken down. These female players are visible role models who can break down stereotypes.
Those young girls were once Ali Brigginshaw, the Brisbane Broncos captain. The halfback mixed it with the boys until she was 13, when she was told she could no longer play as the pathway for girls hit a dead end.
She switched to touch football and never expected she’d play rugby league again. Now the Queenslander who bleeds maroon leads around the state’s first NRL side too.
There are mums among this playing group; who juggle family life, work and training.
Like Kate Haren from St George Illawarra, who travelled a weekly 3600km round trip for a shot at her NRL dream.
She’d retired from the game thinking this day would never come. But when it did, she committed to getting up at 3am at her home in Innisfail, where her three-year-old son was sleeping, and drive to Cairns for a flight to Brisbane to play “local” footy.
Her teammate Oneata Schwalger has left her two sons in Melbourne while she trains and plays for the Dragons these two months.
The former Australian rugby representative could only recently play league in Victoria. She had one shot at an NRLW contract at the National Championships on the Gold Coast in June.
She got it.
There are players whose love of the game is only exceeded by those they love.
Laura Mariu is one of the most experienced Warriors players, who captained the Kiwi Ferns in last year’s World Cup and has represented New Zealand at all five women’s Cups that have been held.
Rugby league is a huge part of her life, one she shares with Warriors teammate Hilda Mariu, her wife. The two have always played alongside each other and have been together for six years, married for six months.
Roosters forward Vanessa Foliaki also plays alongside her partner, Roosters fullback/wing Karina Brown.
The two have just bought a property together in Queensland but football in their house, it’s serious.
Foliaki is one of the toughest forwards in the game, especially against Brown’s Queensland. When the two become opponents at Origin, Foliaki cuts off contact for full focus on a Blues win.
This competition means a lot to the players, especially those who have been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Sam Bremner. She convinced her friends to form a team as an 18-year-old in the Illawarra. Now she captains St George Illawarra and has been one of the drivers for the women’s game to be taken seriously and continue its push to legitimacy.
Her persistent push for women’s rugby league has allowed youngsters like Sarah Togatuki, who took home a silver medal at this year’s exhibition Commonwealth Games nine tournament with Samoa, to be part of the history-making inaugural competition.
And it’s allowed someone like Simaima Taufa to add to her ever-growing list of accolades. From her 2017 Dally M Female Player of the Year award and NSW Player of the Year Award, to the RLPA Elite Female Player of the Year Award she picked up this week.
They’ll all be putting on the hits this weekend and next, but there’s a lot more to it than just giving the girls a go.
THE PLAYERS
ALI BRIGGINSHAW (BRONCOS)
One of the first players signed by the Brisbane Broncos, it was a perfect fit for this passionate Queenslander. One of many forced away from the game as a teenager when female pathways hit a dead end, she was called back from touch football when an interest in the women’s game reignited.
ONEATA SCHWALGER (DRAGONS)
A dual-code representative, Schwalger has left her two children in Melbourne for a shot in NRLW. It was her shots that got her a start. A player who can tear a path through the opposition, Schwalger was picked up at the NRL’s player identification camp earlier this year.
KATE HAREN (DRAGONS)
How’s a 3600km round trip just to be able to play in the NRL women’s competition sound to you? Kate Haren came out of retirement to have a crack at being picked up by one of the four teams and travelled from her home base of Innisfail, where she lives with her three-year-old son Ollie, via Cairns to Brisbane to play “local” footy. Her end goal was the Dragons, she made it.
LAURA MARIU (WARRIORS)
The inaugural captain for the Warriors, Mariu has been playing footy since 2000 and captained the Kiwi Ferns during last year’s World Cup, but has played in all five women’s Cups held, the first three of which the Kiwis won. Last weekend she witnessed her wife, Hilda, create history herself when she crossed for the first ever try in the women’s NRL. She plays for the Warriors too, on the wing.
VANESSA FOLIAKI (ROOSTERS)
Foliaki is one of the hardest runners in the game; a tough, uncompromising forward who knows how to win, having done so at every level of the game. She takes her football seriously — even cutting off contact with partner (and Roosters teammate) Karina Brown during Origin week because she’s from Queensland, not her NSW.
SAM BREMNER (DRAGONS)
A player who is one of the most passionate in the game. Ever since she convinced her friends to form a team in the Illawarra competition as an 18-year-old, Bremner (nee Hammond) has been a standout on the field. She’s seen women’s rugby league go from completely unknown to being on the main stage.
SARAH TOGATUKI (ROOSTERS)
She may only be three years into her time in rugby league but Togatuki already knows success. A silver medallist with Samoa at this year’s exhibition Commonwealth Games nine tournament, she was named in last year’s NSWRL team of the year plus she’s landed an NRL contract.
SIMAIMA TAUFA (ROOSTERS)
The reigning Dally M player of the year and recently crowned elite women’s player of the year at the RLPA Awards. Taufa has been playing rugby league for just four years and has rocketed to the top of the game. The Roosters captain has represented at state and international level and at just 24 has many years ahead of her in rugby league.