Meet the Australian schoolgirls rugby league squad
Meet the next generation NRLW stars, the Australian schoolgirls who were on a collision course to clash with Papua New Guinea on Sunday.
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Meet the Australian schoolgirls who take on the junior Papua New Guinea on Sunday.
Spearheaded by Ipswich SHS ace Shalom Sauaso and Canterbury Lisa Fiaola premiership winning halfback Olivia Va’alele, the side is full of soon to be NRLW talent.
It is an outfit which includes several surnames familiar to NRL followers - Savage, Bostock and Hopoate - and is beautifully balanced with dominant middle forwards, athletic edge runners and strong edge defenders.
THE TEAM
1. Kayla Henderson (Crestwood High School)
The top fullback in her age group for two years now, Henderson has accelerated her league development moving from Penola Catholic College in Emu Plains to Crestwood High School, Baulkham Hills where earlier this year she represented the Bulldogs Tarsha Gale Under-19s side with distinction.
Sporting bright-pink boots, Henderson made an influential impact for the New South Wales Combined High Schools at the national championships held in Coffs Harbour this winter where she was a cool, calm and collected presence - and astute defender who mopped up tackles tenaciously.
2. Gabriella Savage Fa’Aoso (Dickson College)
Originally from that rich league catchment of Cairns and northern beaches, Savage, the former Trinity Bay SHS student, worked her way up from being a bench player for Peninsula at the state trials last year into a place in the Queensland schoolgirls squad.
The tough outside back then followed her brother Xavier’s (Canberra Raiders NRL) lead by moving away from home to continue her development in the nation’s capital where she is learning the tricks of the trade from her older brother with whom she lives.
3. Indie Bostock (Warilla High School)
A project player for the St George Dragons in the NRLW, Bostock has been groomed for higher honours for some time now after making her mark at last year’s national championships at Kayo Stadium in Redcliffe.
The Warilla High School utility back has great leadership qualities, is mature beyond her years and offers that sprinkle of x-factor at her preferred position of centre. Although she could do a top job at fullback or even in the halves.
Bostock, the younger sister of NRL Rookie of the Year Jack (Redcliffe Dolphins), the Stingrays club talent has just been named in the Illawarra Steelers Tarsha Gale squad for the 2025 season where she will likely assume a leadership role.
4. Phoenix-Raine Hippi (Ballina Coast High)
A thrilling prospect from Ballina Coast High School, Hippi burst onto the scene as one of the discovery players of the season in the Harvey Norman under-17 competition when she shone for Tweed Seagulls.
The Northern Rivers talent is an explosive runner with her uncanny pace and deception.
Don’t make the mistake of walking to get a pie or a drink when the ball is anywhere near Hippi - you might miss something special.
5. Mercedez Taulelei-Siala (Ipswich SHS)
The Miss Versatile of the squad who can play anywhere from halfback to fullback, Logan City talent Taulelei-Siala is a vastly experienced winger who played in the 2023 schoolgirls and also for the Queensland under-19 Origin this season.
Appropriately named Mercedez, she is a smooth, polished finisher, and a strong defender.
She played most of her schoolgirl footy at Marsden SHS before switching to Ipswich SHS for her final year.
6. Shalom Sauaso (Ipswich SHS)
The ace in the pack, Sauaso will take some handling. An absolute powerhouse good enough for the NRLW right now, Sauaso has enormous strength and a killer step which proves potent close to the line.
She simply cannot be continued across a match - it is just about trying to restrict her impact.
An Ipswich SHS native, she has Super W rugby experience so is comfortable on the big stage.
She can play at No. 13 or at No. 6 with ease.
7. Olivia Va’alele (The Hills Sports High)
From The Hills Sports High School, Seven Hills, Olivia Va’alele has a little bit of everything in her arsenal.
She is a proven winner who has excelled in rugby 7s and the Bulldogs Tarsha Gale talent will feature at halfback on Sunday where she can play the distributing role and also wreak havoc with her running game.
Watch for her short and long kicking game which would have been one of the first things noticed by the selectors. She captained Canterbury to the Lisa Fiaola Premiership.
8. Seriah Palepale (Bass High School)
From the Bass High School in Bass Hill, Palepale has made a name for herself as a hard running middle forward.
Palepale was another member of the NSWCHS side that made the national championships grand final and she will give the Australian Schoolgirls plenty of punch through the middle of the field.
The big bodied 17-year-old stands tall at 185cm and can change direction quickly without losing pace which is why the prop is such a handful.
The word thunderous comes to mind.
Palepale was a member of the Canterbury Lisa Fiaola Premiership winning team where she scored almost a try a match for the Bulldogs.
9. Raewyn Olomalii (Marsden SHS)
A little ripper out of Marsden SHS, Olomalii is a great team player with an uncanny ability to take the right option from the ruck.
She finds her halves with ease, but will back herself off the back of a quick ruck ball.
She is a halfback’s dream because her service is so good, but she can also hustle her side forward with two handed scurries across the face of the defensive line.
In club football, she is from the prolific Pine Central Holy Spirit Hornets club.
10. Alice Shannon (Mabel Park SHS)
An enormous presence around the ruck, Shannon is another destined to play in the NRLW. She finds her front frequently and never fails to deliver momentum for her side.
From Mabel Park SHS in the heart of Logan City, Shannon is another vastly experienced player for her age with previous Australian schoolgirl experience.
11. Pauline Sui-ruka (Westfields Sports High School)
From Westfields Sports High School, Sui-ruka is a high achiever who was a member of the champion NSW under-19 Origin side earlier in the year, while also being elevated into the Canterbury inaugural NRLW squad.
She is a robust edge forward type who trains hard off the field and plays hard on it. She is a young gun, that’s for sure.
12. Amanii Misa (Mabel Park SHS)
A prolific talent from Mabel Park SHS, Misa has been identified by the Brisbane Broncos as a potential NRLW player.
Noted for her strength, she has been a regular in representative teams over the last two seasons and will be a handful on the edge with her strength and ability to hit holes.
Her defence was just as effective. She is a complete forward.
13. Trinity Tauanei (Bass High School)
Another from the powerhouse Canterbury premiership winning Lisa Fiaola Cup outfit, the Bass High School middle forward is a workhorse forward with the ability to play in the middle or on an edge.
A Wainuiomata Lions junior from Lower Hutt in Wellington, the younger sister of Dragons lock Alexis, Tauanei is so highly thought of at the Dragons that she will have her development contract upgraded to a full-time deal in 2025 with the NRLW side.
You will see what the fuss is about, that is for sure.
14. Mahlie Cashin (Central Coast Sports College)
Selected in the representative Country Under-17 squad earlier this year, Mahlie Cashin showed she is an elite dummy half who possesses both a crisp passing game and a deadly running game from the ruck.
The quick-between-the-ears Cashin created plenty of points for The Central Coast Roosters over the Autumn by deceiving the markers then distributing to find an open runner.
The Central Coast Sports College ace was a real dynamo for the NSW Combined independent Schools at that event and she has maintained the rage playing for the Roosters in the NSW Women’s Premiership.
15. Ella Walker (The Hills Sports High)
Yet another Hills Sports High talent, Walker will offer some gusto coming off the interchange bench in Sunday’s clash.
A front rower with the soft hands and ball skills of a spine player, Walker has bounced back from a serious knee injury which required surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament.
She stormed back in style to be a hulking middle forward force in the NSWCHS side that challenged for the national title and her power game is of course up there with the best in the nation.
16. Reegan Hicks (Australian Christian College)
Another middle forward powerhouse from Queensland, Hicks learned her trade in the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains region where her development was fast tracked by the Beerwah Bulldogs. An Australian Christian College student, Hicks is another who has experience beyond her years.
17. Stella Lewis (Newman Senior Technical College, Port Macquarie)
A 16-year-old phenom from Port Macquarie, Stella Lewis recently inked a three year deal with NRLW heavyweights the Newcastle Knights in an indication of her stunning potential.
From the Newman Senior Technical College, Lewis switched from rugby union to rugby league last year where she immediately made a name for herself playing for the Port Macquarie Sharks.
She is a Ms Natural whose burgeoning football career will reach a flashpoint on Sunday when the ball playing No. 13 mixes it with the best of the best in Australia.
18. Liesl Hopoate (Mount Carmel Catholic College)
Yes, that’s correct. It is another from the famous Hopoate family to excel in rugby league. The son of former international and Manly premiership winner John, Narraweena Hawks’ product Liesl is a versatile type who can play on the edge where her defensive work and ball running is renowned. She is in the Sea Eagles system.
Originally published as Meet the Australian schoolgirls rugby league squad
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