Two Goulburn Dirty Reds have made the Super W Brumbies training squad for season 2023.
Try-scoring sensation Krystal Blackwell makes her debut in the backs while Pearl Rakete returns in the forwards.
Pearl played with the Dirty Reds until this season when the Goulburn Women’s team played in the 10s competition and she travelled to Tuggeranong Vikings to play in the XVs competition. Should Goulburn re-enter the XVs in 2023, she is likely to return as a Dirty Red.
Brumby #64 Scott Fava’s first group as head coach features 20 capped Brumbies players, with the remainder of the 51-player squad being made up of up-and-coming talent from the ACT and capital region, as well as players from interstate and overseas.
The squad includes seven capped internationals: current Wallaroos Grace Kemp and Tania Naden, Siokapesi Palu, Jemima McCalman, Fijiana prop Iris Verebalavu and former Australian test stars Sarah Riordan and Rebecca Smyth, Smyth having also captained the Brumbies in 2022.
The club’s longest-standing player, prop Louise Burrows was not included in the extended group, but will continue her legendary ACT rugby career in club rugby.
ACT Brumbies Super W head coach, Scott Fava said it’s great to be in a position to select a wider training group pre-Christmas that will form the 2023 squad heading into the new year.
“We’ve approached this stage of selection with an eye to the future and we believe with a targeted rugby and physical development focus,” he said.
“We can lay some important building blocks for the future for the club’s Super W program.
“This club has always been a place for people who want an opportunity to come to work hard, improve and reach the next level and that will be at the centre of everything we do moving forward.
“That focus means a player and person of the calibre of Cookie Burrows misses out, but we know she’s going to keep contributing to the game in the ACT and hopefully here at the Brumbies, helping to promote the pathway for young players to reach the highest level.”
FORWARDS
Kieran Berry – Burraneer Rays
Harriet Elleman – Wagga Wagga Waratahs
Monica Fasavalu-Faamausili – Western Sydney Two Blues
Ash Fernandez – Canberra Royals
Sally Fuesina – Western Sydney Two Blues
Jess Grant – Uni-Norths Owls
Amy Hart – Wagga Wagga Waratahs
Ella Hooper – Uni-Norths Owls
Lydia Kavoa – Queanbeyan Whites
Grace Kemp – Canberra Royals
Brittany Leauanae – Gordon
Maggie Maconochie – Hunter Wildfires
Erika Maslen – Tamworth
Ivy Merlehan – CSU Reddies
Monique Moa’le – Gordon
Edwina Munns-Cook – Sydney University
Tania Naden – Uni-Norths Owls
Kathryn Niki – Tuggeranong Vikings
Pearl Rakete – Goulburn Dirty Reds
Rebecca Smyth – Narromine Gorillas
Emily Sogal – Tuggeranong Vikings
Alyse Soloase – Western Sydney Two Blues
Alexander Sulusi – Gordon
Tabua Tuinakauvadra – Tuggeranong Vikings
Fapiola Uoifalelahi – Griffith
Iris Verebalavu – Uni-Norths Owls
Zali Waihape-Andrews – Tuggeranong Vikings
BACKS
Krystal Blackwell – Goulburn Dirty Reds
Danielle Buttsworth – Hunter Wildfires
Biola Dawa – CSU Reddies
Siena Edwards – Auckland
Chioma Enyi – Wests
Martha Fua – Sydney University
Brooke Gilroy – Canberra Royals
Apryll Green – Wagga City
Teliya Hetaraka – Tuggeranong Vikings
Jay Huriwai – Western Sydney Two Blues
Akira Kelly – Gordon
Amelia Lolotonga – Griffith
Jemima McCalman – Sydney University
Faitala Moleka – Sydney University
Siokapesi Palu – Uni-Norths Owls
Gabrielle Petersen – Tuggeranong Vikings
Sarah Riordan – Australian Defence Force
Chloe Saunders – Burraneer Rays
Kayla Sauvou – Western Sydney Two Blues
Georgina Tuipulotu – Sydney University
Sarah Tuipulotu – Sydney University
Gisela Vea – Tuggeranong Vikings
Sammie Wood – Queanbeyan Whites
