As a young footballer, Elise Simpson never imagined that one day she would play in the highest women’s rugby league competition in Australia.
Simpson, at only 18 years of age, has announced her signing with the Canberra Raiders NRLW side for the upcoming season.
Before even playing a game of rugby league, Simpson was already on the radar for a place in the first-grade side. This was thanks to her impressive form as a member of the Australian Youth Touch Football team and the Australian School girls rugby sevens side.
Simpson was surprised at how quickly her league journey progressed, being signed to the NRLW only two years after starting to play league as a member of the Raiders’ Tarsha Gale team.
“It feels kind of crazy to be honest. I kind of never expected that I’d be here, but it’s good,” Simpson said of her recent signing.
“I guess I was mostly surprised because I kind of got introduced (to rugby league) by my old touch coach. She was like, ‘you should come play league, the NRLW coach would be interested in you’.”
“It made me want to play more, because, I was like oh, someone actually thinks I can do something.”
Recognising there is a big transition between Tarsha Gale to the NRLW league, Simpson is aware of the learning curve ahead of her. However, she is ready to put in the hard work and make her family proud when she, hopefully, makes her NRLW debut this season.
“My mum’s very supportive and wants me to do everything that I can, so I’m making her proud for putting me in all these things.”
Simpson says her love of the game is motivation for her to train hard and work on improving her skills. Before she takes to the field this season, Simpson wants to work not only on her defence and ball skills, but also on her confidence as a player.
“I want to be good. And obviously, it feels good when you’re doing well.”
Listen the full interview with Elise Simpson.
Photos by Ella Colquhoun