For the Wests Tigers’ second season in the Women’s Telstra Premiership, there are two new additions on development contracts and six new faces among the team’s top-24 contracted players.
Twenty of the squad’s thirty-nine members participated in the club’s historic inaugural season in the NRLW. Many of the players are either local juniors or have progressed through the Wests Tigers pathways teams.
Current NSW Origin representatives Kezie Apps and Sarah Togatuki, together with former NSW fullback Botille Vette-Welsh, are among the team’s more seasoned players.
A number of players from the previous season are also returning, including international representatives Leianne Tufuga, Najvada George, Christian Pio, and Pauline Piliae-Rasabale, as well as seasoned outside backs Rikeya Horne and Tess Staines.
Losana Lutu, who represented NSW U19s last year, has been locked into a long-term deal after missing much of last season through injury.
The talented playmaker is joined by several other Campbelltown juniors, including twin sisters Emily and Sophie Curtain.
Another Macarthur junior to have re-signed with the club is winger Rebecca Pollard. The Narellan Jets junior is one of 16 players who made their NRLW debut with Wests Tigers in 2023.
Junior Balmain Another player getting ready for her second season in the NRLW is Imogen Gobran, who made her grade debut the previous year.
Harmony Crichton, who had a great season for Wests Tigers in this year’s Tarsha Gale Cup, former Sharks and Tonga forward Natasha Penitani, and former Rugby 7s player Claudia Nielsen are new to the team.
Tara Reinke, a former forward for the Raiders, and Shaianne McGlone, a 29-year-old center and mother of two from Queensland, are also new additions to the team this season.
Amelia Huakau, née Mafi, signed a two-year contract with the club after leaving the Parrmatta Eels, will miss the 2024 season due to her first child’s arrival in September.
Wests Tigers four development contract players are Claudia Brown and Iemaima Etuale, who have both come through Wests Tigers pathways teams, and new recruits Chelsea Saville and Evie McGrath, who have joined the club from Illawarra Steelers.
Brown, Saville and McGrath have this week been selected in the NSW Under 19s Women’s team to face Queensland at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday 20 June.
Wests Tigers 2024 NRLW squad:
Amelia Mafi, Botille Vette-Welsh, Brooke Talataina, Christian Pio, Claudia Nielsen, Ebony Prior, Emily Curtain, Harmony Crichton, Imogen Gobran, Jessica Kennedy, Kezie Apps, Leianne Tufuga, Losana Lutu, Najvada George, Natasha Penitani, Pauline Piliae-Rasabale, Rebecca Pollard, Rikeya Horne, Salma Nour, Sarah Togatuki, Shaianne McGlone, Sophie Curtain, Tara Reinke, Tess Staines, Tiana-Lee Thorne
Development Players:
Chelsea Savill, Claudia Brown, Evie McGrath, Iemaima Etuale
Match: Wests Tigers v Raiders
ROUND 1 –
home Team
Wests Tigers
away Team
Raiders
Venue:Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Sydney
Wests Tigers opening game of the NRLW season is against Canberra Raiders on Sunday 28th July.
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