Player Georgia Hale

[mt.wellington]

Georgia Hale

​

Georgia Hale (born 9 August 1995) is a New Zealand rugby league footballer who plays for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRLW.

Primarily a lock, she is vice-captain of the New Zealand Test team.

A Richmond Roses junior, Hale represented New Zealand in touch and tag football before switching to rugby league.

In 2014, she was a member of the New Zealand squad for their three-game series against Australia at the 2014 NRL Auckland Nines.

On 3 May 2015, she made her Test debut for New Zealand, coming off the bench in a 14–22 loss to Australia at Suncorp Stadium. On 6 May 2016, she was named Player of the Match in New Zealand's 26–16 ANZAC Test win over Australia. On 16 September 2016, she was named New Zealand Player of the Year at the RLPA Players' Champion awards in Sydney.

In 2017, she was named vice-captain of New Zealand for the 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup. She played three games in the tournament but was omitted from the team that lost to Australia in the final.

In 2018, Hale joined the New Zealand Warriors for the inaugural season of the NRL Women's Premiership. In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Warriors, starting at halfback in a 10–4 win over the Sydney Roosters.

On 21 August, she was named captain of the Warriors and moved to the lock position. On 19 October, she started for New Zealand in their 17–15 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s final win over Australia.

On 20 February, Hale was named the Young New Zealander of the Year.

In September, Hale was one of five New Zealand-based Warriors' players to travel to Australia to play in the 2020 NRL Women's premiership. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the players had to quarantine for 14 days on entering Australia and 14 days on return to New Zealand when the season was completed. On 27 October, Hale won the Veronica White Medal for her off-field work in her local community.

In 2021, Hale relocated to Australia, joining the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the QRL Women's Premiership.

In October she was selected for the New Zealand squad at the delayed 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup in England.

On 12 May 2023 she announced her intention to leave Leeds Rhinos to return to Australia and re-join Gold Coast Titans

She was appointed as the Captain of the Gold Coast titans for the 2023 NRLW Season.

Georgia Hale

Georgia Hale (born 9 August 1995) is a New Zealand rugby league footballer who plays for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRLW. Primarily a lock, she is vice-captain of the New Zealand Test team. A Richmond Roses junior, Hale represented New Zealand in...

nzwarriors.com

 

[mt.wellington]

Hale named new Warriors captain​

Richard Becht Wed 21 Aug 2019, 02:00 pm

Warriors head coach Luisa Avaiki today announced Kiwi Ferns back rower Georgia Hale will captain the side in the second NRLW premiership this season.
Hale, who has just turned 24, becomes one of the youngest players to lead a top-level women’s team in any code in New Zealand.

Georgia stands out with the way she holds herself, with her values, her strengths and passion
Luisa AvaikiWarriors head coach

“Georgia stands out with the way she holds herself, with her values, her strengths and the passion she has for every team she plays for,” said Avaiki.

“I’ve watched her and she has really good relationships with everyone around her and she’s respectful. Her work ethic, competitiveness and drive are important qualities she demonstrates on and off the field.

“It’s exciting for Georgia and the girls around her that she has the chance to lead the team. This also gives her the chance to develop and grow her leadership skills at this level.”

Avaiki said Hale would be supported by a strong leadership group within the team which will drive the squad’s values, identity and culture.

Hale, a Kiwi Ferns representative since 2015, has also played at international level for New Zealand in both touch and tag.

“I was totally shocked when Lui asked me to be captain,” she said.

It’s such a huge honour and so humbling to be given the role to lead this group of girls.
Georgia HaleWarriors captain

“It’s such a huge honour and so humbling to be given the role to lead this group of girls.

“I’ve grown up supporting the Warriors all my life and to be able to work for the club, then play for it and now captain our NRLW team is just a dream.

“A real source of strength for me will be our leadership group. There are so many amazing and experienced girls in this squad.”

Hale, who works for the Vodafone Warriors as community relations coordinator, played in all three games in the Warriors’ inaugural NRLW campaign last year and is one of 10 2018 players back on deck this season.

The NRLW season kicks off alongside the NRL finals on the weekend of September 14-15.

The Warriors will play in Australia in week one but will be at Mount Smart Stadium for the competition’s first standalone game on Sunday, September 22 (3.15pm kick-off).

While the full draw is yet to be confirmed, the Warriors’ third and final game will be against Brisbane on September 28 (venue to be confirmed). The grand final will be played at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, October 6.

GEORGIA HALE
Born: August 9, 1995
Birthplace: Auckland, NZ
Club: Richmond Roses (Auckland)
Zone: Akarana Falcons
Position: Loose forward
Rep honours: Kiwi Ferns (2015-2019), World Cup (2017), Auckland NRL Nines (2014-2017), New Zealand touch, New Zealand tag
Years playing rugby league: 5 years
What got you into the game? My friends
Occupation: Community coordinator, Vodafone Warriors

Hale named new Warriors captain

Warriors head coach Luisa Avaiki today announced Kiwi Ferns back rower Georgia Hale will captain the side in the second NRLW premiership this season.

www.warriors.kiwi

 

[mt.wellington]

Rugby League: Former NZ Warriors captain Georgia Hale fears for Kiwi 'sisters' as NRLW crumbles​

04/09/2021 Grant Chapman

Former NZ Warriors captain Georgia Hale fears the demise of the NRL women's competition this year will leave an indelible scar on other Kiwis who have crossed the Tasman to play.

The 2021 NRLW has been scrapped, due to COVID-19 complications, despite players voting overwhelmingly to relocate to Queensland - as their male counterparts have done - to start their season as scheduled.

Instead, the NRL will stage two women's competitions next year, one in February and another in August.

With the Warriors electing to sit out this season, several Kiwi women have secured contracts with Newcastle Knights, coached by former Warriors halfback Blake Green. They are now stranded in New South Wales, with no jobs and no way home to New Zealand.

Hales captained the relocated Warriors women last year and opted to remain in Australia, appointed to the Rugby League Players Association women's advisory group and linking with Gold Coast Titans for the NRLW.

"We're all so disappointed, because it came down to a lack of communication, and lack of respect and value for our women's game from the NRL," says the 2020 Young New Zealander of the Year. "The things they could have done differently cost no money.

"We were really just asking for one-percenters like clear communication, and our game to be valued and prioritised. They're really small asks, when you look at the men and what they've done for them.

"As a playing group, we've got around one another - we're all feeling personal disappointment."

The RLPA conducted a survey of players to determine what options were available for the planned season - 75 percent supported relocation away from COVID-19 hotspots.

"As things started to steer in a worse direction in New South Wales, the NRL decided to move the men's competition to Queensland," says Hale. "In that window, there was definitely an opportunity to have our women's teams do the same, to quarantine and be put in a bubble to mirror what the men were doing.

"We totally missed that opportunity. The decisions made by the NRL didn't action the voice we'd spoken with.

"Instead of having options, as a playing group, we felt decisions were being made for us and we weren't being heard."

Hale laments the damage this decision will do to women's rugby league, which has made so many gains in recent years.

"We've done so much work to get the game to where it is today - the competition we're able to play in, the voice we have, our media presence," she says.

"Everything's really taken off - sponsorship, crowds, participation - everything's growing.

"Decisions like this are like taking 10 steps back unfortunately.

"There is now a clear pathway for young girls to become NRLW players or Kiwi Ferns players, but it's a shame we're undoing some of our work and that's not as appealing as it once was."

Once the Warriors withdrew, the Kiwi players at Newcastle took a chance to pursue their careers offshore and have seen that gamble turn to dust.

"They are handling it like absolute troopers," says Hale. "They've been through the wringer, but are so positive.

"There are girls in that playing group, this is there first experience of NRLW - they're so excited for it and this is what they've been striving for, but to come in and see the way the game's being treated, the way they're being treated... I just it doesn't ruin the way they look at the competition.

"You only get one chance to make a first impression and unfortunately for some of those girls, it's not the best one.

"They're doing it pretty tough - every day, they're refreshing their computer screens, trying to find a sport in MIQ, trying to find an airfare home. Their goal is to be back for Christmas."

Former Warriors captain Hale fears for Kiwi 'sisters' as NRLW crumbles

The 2020 Young New Zealander of the Year has had an insider's view of the competition's cancellation.

www.newshub.co.nz

 

[mt.wellington]

Leeds Rhinos recruit Georgia Hale sets sights on nailing English ambitions​

As seen on https://www.leeds-live.co.uk

Five months ago Georgia Hale helped wreck England’s Women’s Rugby League World Cup dreams when she featured in the New Zealand line-up that secured a 20-6 win at the LNER Community Stadium in York and a place in their sixth straight final.

Now the 27-year-old Kiwi is relishing the prospect of swapping old rivalries for the Leeds Rhinos and playing alongside some of those players she reduced to tears when she becomes the first former player from Australia’s full-time WNRL to feature in the new Betfred Women’s Super League season.

Hale’s arrival at the Rhinos, who begin their quest for a second straight Grand Final win over last year’s vanquished rivals, the newly-rebranded York Valkyrie, at Headingley on Easter Sunday, marks another hugely significant moment for the domestic game. In the wake of what was widely regarded to be a successful World Cup campaign both on and off the field, Leeds and York announced they would become the first two clubs to pay their players bonuses, and Hale’s arrival will be central to the campaign to maintain momentum.

“I’m excited to pull on a Rhinos jersey and take to the field with the girls,” Hale, a former Auckland Warriors and Gold Coast Titans player who headed to England as part of a pact with her partner, Rhinos men’s front rower Sam Lisone, told the PA news agency.

“We were hugely impressed with the England girls during the World Cup, especially given so many of them were having to juggle all sorts of things like motherhood, university and shift work. To still turn out the product they did was remarkable. The big strides they’ve made is really clear and the important thing now is that we focus on the growth at the levels below England, to ensure strong pathways and good development, so that you’ve got young players who are able to see a way to emulate their heroes.”

Hale’s Rhinos will start as strong favourites to retain their crown, not least because of another statement close-season signing in former St Helens centre Amy Hardcastle and with two more fast-rising England stars, Fran Goldthorp and Georgia Roche, at their disposal.

It is a further testament of the big strides made in the women’s game that Goldthorp and Roche, along with York’s Hollie Dodd, have been in advanced talks to become the first domestic players to sign relatively lucrative deals to move to the WNRL, and all three could yet still depart prior to the start of the Australian pre-season at the end of May.

Far from bemoaning a potential drain of talent Down Under, Hale believes the first full-time move by an English player will spell a hugely-significant moment in raising the profile of the sport and extending those pathways to prove there is way for English women to make a living from the game.

“It will be a massive thing when it happens,” added Hale. “We don’t want it to look like we’re losing talent, because it will show that England has the systems in place to produce players who can go all the way to the WNRL and experience both the sport and a totally different way of life.

“It’s not about putting WNRL on a pedestal, it’s about the whole package. We’ve seen in the men’s game how players go over there and bring back their experience back to the Super League. Personally I would love to see Super League teams develop relationships with WNRL sides so they can learn and feed off each other.”

The women’s curtain-raiser will take place prior to the men’s Super League clash between the Rhinos and Huddersfield, and the pairing of home fixtures, which will be a permanent part of the club’s 2023 calendar, is set to lead to a peculiar dynamic for Hale at her new home.

“Sam and I keep as far away from each other as possible when we’re approaching match day,” laughed Hale. “We prepare so differently, Sam can sleep all day long whereas I hate sitting around and I’ll be bouncing from one wall to the other. It doesn’t get much better than Sunday afternoon footy and we’re really looking forward to getting started.”

Leeds Rhinos recruit Georgia Hale sets sights on nailing English ambitions |

Leeds Rhinos recruit Georgia Hale sets sights on nailing English ambitionsNew Zealand Rugby League - Official New Zealand Rugby League website

nzrl.co.nz

 

[mt.wellington]

Georgia Hale on her NRLW season at the Titans​

By Mary Konstantopoulos April 18, 2022


Siren Collaborator Mary Konstantopoulos speaks to Georgia Hale about her NRLW season at the Titans and hopes for a New Zealand Warriors return to the league.

The 2021 edition of the NRL Women’s competition saw three new teams introduced—the Parramatta Eels, Gold Coast Titans and Newcastle Knights.

It’s one thing for the athletes in these teams to be given the opportunity to access training facilities, high performance training and coaching, and the tools necessary to succeed on the field, but it’s another to feel like a club has really wrapped its arms around a new team and made these athletes feel truly welcome.

‘Truly welcome’ is what Georgia Hale felt during her season with the Titans.

“We would come into the sheds win or lose and have our CEO, club owners and board members clapping us on every single game,” said Hale. “When we had to travel, our CEO would be the first to be at the airport, just so excited about the weekend ahead.

“Through the week at training, we would have staff come down and sit on the sidelines waving their flags. It’s been so impressive to see the club take the first steps with the introduction of this women’s team and to see how naturally a beautiful environment has been created.”

The Titans had an exciting first season. Led by Jamie Feeney, the team was the only one out of the three new clubs to play finals footy and managed to showcase some incredible talent.

For Hale, it was this mix of talent which helped the Titans to succeed on the field.

“We really wanted more time together, because when you looked around the playing group there was so much talent and so much potential because of the mixture of experience we had,” said Hale.

“There were experienced players who had the knowledge and set the example and then the next generation of players coming through that have so much to look forward to and an established pathway to aspire to.

“It was a special place to be because footy was fun alongside friends, everyone is just a legend on and off the field.”

This is not Hale’s first season in the NRLW. Hale has played for the New Zealand Warriors in past seasons, but when it was announced that the Warriors would no longer be participating, Hale had a difficult decision to make. After relocating to the Gold Coast for the Warriors 2020 campaign and staying on the Gold Coast at the end of the season to join her partner who also plays for the Titans in the NRL Men’s competition, the Titans seemed a natural fit for Hale too.

“I have really loved it here at the Titans,” said Hale.

“I’ve had very strong history with the Warriors and I was gutted they didn’t make an appearance this year, but to be able to play for the area where I have settled in in Australia is a great opportunity.”

Hale is hopeful that while the Warriors made the decision not to participate in the 2021 season, the news of NRLW expansion might mean that they return to the competition in due course.

For Hale, their inclusion is extremely important to demonstrate to the next generation of women in New Zealand that there is a pathway for them.

“If you are from New Zealand, to make NRLW you really have to make the move back over to Australia and really commit to your footy. Back home our games aren’t filmed, so you have to be proactive and make sure you are putting yourself out there and really selling yourself.

“For the Warriors the next step is probably getting the men’s team back home and giving them the chance to make New Zealand home again, and then I hope it will be easier for them to put their hands up for a women’s team again.”

While Hale is proud of Titans efforts this season, she is already looking forward to season 2022 which is just a couple of months away. But for the moment, Hale is taking it one step at a time. Because she is not in contention for the New South Wales Blues or Queensland Maroons in State of Origin, her focus now turns to the local Queensland competition where she plays for the Tweed Seagulls.

“This is an important period to go back and enjoy my club footy and reconnect there,” said Hale. “Without club footy, we wouldn’t have the same foundation to lead us into the NRLW, so I’m looking forward to playing for the Seagulls.”

The NRLW contracting period has just opened up again, so it’s unclear at this stage where Hale will be playing in the 2022 season, but if it is for the Titans, she knows there is opportunity for improvement.

“I’m looking forward to what’s to come and to see what the Titans do and change ahead of the next season,” said Hale.
“There will be a time to reflect on the highs and lows of our 2021 season and then closer to the time, start prepping for season 2022.”

Georgia Hale on her NRLW season at the Titans - Siren

Mary Konstantopoulos speaks to Georgia Hale about her NRLW season at the Titans and hopes for a New Zealand Warriors return to the league.

sirensport.com.au

 

[mt.wellington]

Courageous captain to call Coast home until '26​

Fri 15 Mar 2024, 07:59 am


Inspirational Titans captain Georgia Hale has her sights set on delivering gold for Gold, extending her time on the Coast until the end of the 2026 season.

Championing the phrase to help bring the first premiership to the region during last year’s NRLW finals series, the 28-year-old forward has a strong desire to go one better with the Titans in 2024, motivated by their heartbreaking grand final defeat to the Knights in the dying stages.

"A common theme is there is a lot of unfinished business for us as a playing group," Hale said.

"The bulk of us are staying together and we are building really nicely. We’ve put together a foundation and the future is exciting.

"Our squad is young and it’s nice that we still have a few of us older girls to mentor and steer the ship.

"I’m excited for what’s to come, especially under and alongside Murph."

'I’m excited for what’s to come': Hale

Away from the Titans, the Kiwi Ferns captain steered her home nation to a stirring victory against the Jillaroos in the recent Pacific Championships to break a seven-year drought, helping earn Hale the female Golden Boot – judged the best women’s player in the world.

NRLW coach Karyn Murphy is proud to have the experienced forward further extend her time with the club as such an influential member of the team.
“I can’t be anymore delighted with Georgia’s decision to remain a Titan until the end of 2026,” she said.

“She’s a true leader and I can honestly say she’s right up there with the best in the game.

“She’s had such a huge impact on our squad since joining the Gold Coast for the club’s foundation season and a big part of our success last year was due to Georgia’s leadership on and off the field.

“With a key eye on attention to detail, her sheer determination and work ethic is evident with her phenomenal on-field performances week-in, week-out and she’s been a pivotal inspiration for our squad to follow her lead every game.

“As a great role model for our emerging players, I’m so glad she’ll continue that role with us long-term.”

Hale becomes the fourth Titan to commit to the Coast until at least 2026 after fellow forwards Shannon Mato, Jess Elliston and Rilee Jorgensen also extended their time at the end of last season.

Courageous captain to call Coast home until '26

Inspirational Titans captain Georgia Hale has her sights set on delivering gold for Gold, extending her time on the Coast until the end of the 2026 season.

www.titans.com.au