2024 Aotearoa Kiwi Ferns Squad Breakdown
The New Zealand Kiwi Ferns defeated Australia in their last outing and while there are a few tweaks to the squad named this year, they are all improvements to showcase the excellence of women's rugby league in Aotearoa. Four new players have been named with the most dominant youngster in NRLW Alexis Tauaneai getting her first dose of Kiwi Ferns footy, along Gayle Broughton, Mackenzie Wiki and Brooke Talataina.
Kiwi Ferns didn't have Amber Hall in the win over Australia last year and she returns to the Kiwi Ferns alongside NRLW champions Tiana Davison, Otesa Pule and Mya Hill-Moana who played for the Roosters this season. Brianna Clark also missed Kiwi Ferns footy last year after playing at the 2022 World Cup and she is one of three Broncos selected along with Broughton and Mele Hufanga.
Sharks duo Annessa Biddle and Brooke Anderson, who played in the NRLW Grand Final loss to Roosters, are selected once again. Anderson is likely to spend the most game time at hooker and Biddle could play the Pacific Championships as an edge forward, having settled at centre for Sharks in her two seasons of NRLW. Biddle played edge forward in the win over Australia last year though and there is a freakish crop of powerful outside backs in the Kiwi Ferns so some shuffling is required.
This was on display last year as the win over Australia featured a back five of Apii Nicholls, Leianne Tufuga, Mele Hufanga, Abigail Roache and Shanice Parker. Biddle played edge forward and now Wiki is added to this group, giving NZ Kiwi Ferns a variety of options and the craziest concentration of powerful wahine in women's rugby league.
Raecene McGregor isn't in the squad and Aotearoa still has enough depth in the halves to cover her absence. Tyla King and Ash Quinlan started in the halves alongside McGregor last year. Both can do a job as a bench utility to cover Anderson, while Broughton is likely to be a starting half throughout the campaign.
The best combination for Aotearoa folks is King/Broughton and this will reinforce the growth of women's rugby league as they both moved to NRLW from Black Ferns Sevens. Talataina is the funkiest addition to the NZ Kiwi Ferns squad and while she was born in Aotearoa, Talataina grew up in Australia and the 20-year-old has progressed through New South Wales pipelines as a play-maker.
After playing in the halves for NSW City Under 19s and NSW U19s last year, Talataina played three games of NRLW for Tigers before rolling through nine games this season. Talataina had three games coming off the bench before starting six consecutive games at edge forward where she played 70 minutes (full game) in five of those games.
The classy Roache and Talataina are the best options to offer further halves depth behind King, Broughton and Quinlan if required. Given that King or Quinlan may need to plug a hole at dummy half, this could present more opportunities to Talataina to get game time in the halves. Talataina may also be deployed as an edge forward though, behind Hall and Biddle who could be the most destructive edge forward combo in women's footy right now.
Roache and Parker are the best options to cover fullback behind Nicholls. Aotearoa is also flush with middle forwards and this is boosted by the selection of Tauaneai, who joins Dragons prop Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa in the NZ Kiwi Ferns squad. Georgia Hale is a mandatory middle forward and the Hale/Tauaneai combo will be especially fun to track as they are exceptional workers who are also among the best passing forwards in NRLW.
Other middle forwards are Clark, Moana, Davison, Pule and Najvada George. Pule has spent time as an edge forward previously before rolling through most of this NRLW season as a prop for Roosters, so she may be an option to cover edge forward in the top-17.
NZ Kiwi Ferns Depth Chart
Outside Backs
Apii Nicholls, Mele Hufanga, Shanice Parker, Leianne Tufuga, Abigail Roache, Mackenzie Wiki
Halves
Tyla King, Gayle Broughton, Ash Quinlan
Hooker
Brooke Anderson
Middles
Georgia Hale, Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa, Najvada George, Tiana Davison, Alexis Tauaneai, Otesa Pule, Mya Hill-Moana, Brianna Clark
Edges
Amber Hall, Annessa Biddle, Brooke Talataina
The NZ Kiwi Ferns squad blends players from around Aotearoa with those who were born/raised in Australia or grew up in Australia. The players who played junior footy in Australia and now represent NZ Kiwi Ferns include Teakaraanga-Katoa, Quinlan, Clark, Anderson, Talataina, George, Pule and Parker.
While there is no NRLWahine junior from the South Island in the squad (highlighting even more growth available to women's rugby league), Tauaneai enters the Kiwi Ferns mix as a Wainuiomata junior from Wellington. There is a hearty Taranaki duo in Waitara's Davison and Hawera's Broughton, while Hill-Moana is a Taniwharau junior from Waikato.
Wiki is a Manurewa junior who had a swift impact in NRLW after leaving Aotearoa along with others like Biddle (Otara), Roache (Howick/Richmond), Hufanga (Southern Cross Campus/Ponsonby) and Tufuga (Otara/Botany Downs College). NZ Kiwi Ferns veterans Hale, Hall and Nicholls have been in NRLWahine footy for a while with links to a variety of Auckland rugby league clubs, while King is a New Lynn junior.
Keeping a core group of wahine together is brewing a lovely NZ Kiwi Ferns culture that welcomes players from all cultural backgrounds to represent Aotearoa. Aussies with links to New Zealand are investing in NZ Kiwi Ferns alongside a hearty group of veterans who laid foundations of this culture before and after the pandemic phase. NZ Kiwi Ferns are now bolstered by younger players who have dominated NRLW in their first or second seasons. Greater opportunities in rugby league compared to rugby union now ensure that elite athletes such as King and Broughton can add to an NZ Kiwi Ferns group who have quickly emerged as the most exciting women's sports team in Aotearoa.
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