Tillett locked into finally make her NRLW breakthrough
TAHLULAH Tillett is now even more motivated to make her childhood dream of playing in a national women’s rugby league competition a reality, despite that dream again being dashed this year.
Tillett, who hails from Moa Island and is arguably the best female rugby league player to come out of the Far North, had signed and was in pre-season training with the Newcastle Knights before the fourth NRLW season.
And after years of setbacks, primarily through a series of serious knee injuries, that dream of stepping on to the field was almost realised before this time Covid intervened two months out from the competition’s planned kick-off.
“For me, it’s been a childhood dream to play in the NRLW and I think after going through a few years of injuries and missing out because of those, to finally have a crack and it being postponed was pretty hard to come to terms with,” Tillett said.
“I was quite upset at the start but, I think, by the end of it, it had been such a toll over the last couple of weeks being the not knowing what the NRL was going to do with the competition, I was just looking forward to getting back home.
“Being able to come back here, reset and refresh the mind before heading back for the start of next year.”
After steering North Queensland Gold Stars to the finals in the first BHP premiership, Tillett was approached by two clubs with contracts for the 2021 season.
But the chance to learn off a seasoned NRL veteran in Blake Green swayed Tillett to move to Newcastle.
Green spent 15 years in the
NRL and England’s Super League, playing 270 games in the top flight before he announced his retirement at the Knights earlier this season. He was then appointed coach of the Knights’ first NRLW side.
“I got a phone call from Blake (Green) back in June, and when I spoke to him I was pretty excited with what he said, the plans he had, and that’s how that came about,” Tillett said. “He’s a real good fella.”