Hannah Southwell (born 4 March 1999) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who currently co-captains the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for women's rugby league in Australia, female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the ...

. Primarily a , she is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

representative. She previously played for the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the

NRLW The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is ...

and the Central Coast Roosters in the

NSWRL Women's Premiership The Harvey Norman Women's Premiership is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. It is the only state wide open age competition for women in New South Wales and is run by New South Wales Rugby League. The NSWRL Women's Premiershi ...

. Before switching to rugby league, she played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

for the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

in the W-League and for the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

rugby sevens team.

Background

Born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, Southwell played junior rugby league for the Kotara Bears. At age 13, she gave up rugby league as she wasn't allowed to play anymore due to her age. She is the older sister of Knights teammate

Jesse Southwell Jesse Southwell (born 12 February 2005) is an Australian rugby league and rugby sevens footballer who currently plays for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership. Her positions are and . Background Southwell was born in Newcastl ...

Soccer

Club

Southwell signed with

in 2014. On 20 September 2014, she made her debut in a match against

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, becoming the league's youngest goalkeeper at the age of 15. She made six appearances for the team during the

2014–15 W-League The 2014 W-League season was the seventh season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. The regular season started on 13 September 2014 and concluded on 7 December 2014. The Grand Final took place on ...

season. Newcastle finished in fifth place during the regular season with a record. During the 2015–16 W-League season, Southwell made 12 appearances for Newcastle and helped the team finish in sixth place with a record.

International

Southwell represented Australia in the under-17 and under-20 national teams. In January 2016, Southwell earned a call-up to training camp for the

Australia women's national soccer team The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

Rugby union

In late 2016, Southwell made the decision to switch codes and play rugby sevens. She made her first appearances for the Australian national team at the 2016 Oceania Women's Sevens Championship, Australia winning the Championship after defeating

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in the final.

Rugby league

2018

In 2018, Southwell returned to rugby league, joining CRL Newcastle in the

. In June, she represented NSW Country at the Women's National Championships. On 22 June, she made her debut for

, coming off the bench in a 16–10 win over

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. On 27 July, she signed with the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

team. In Round 1 of the 2018 NRL Women's season, she made her debut in the Dragons' 4–30 loss to the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

. On 6 October, she started at for the

Prime Minister's XIII Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose tea ...

in their 40–4 win over Papua New Guinea. On 13 October, she made her Test debut for

, starting at in a 26–24 win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

2019

In May, Southwell represented NSW Country at the Women's National Championships. In July, she joined the

NRLW side. On 21 June, she started at for New South Wales in their 14–4 win over Queensland. In Round 1 of the 2019 NRL Women's season, she made her debut for the Roosters in a 12–16 loss to the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. In October, she represented Australia at the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s.

2020

In 2020, Southwell joined the Central Coast Roosters

team. On 27 September, they defeated the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

16–10 in the Grand Final. On 20 October, she started at in the Roosters' 10–20

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

loss to the

. After the game, she was named the RLPA Players' Champion.

2022

Southwell was a member of the

team that won the premiership in the postponed

2021 NRL Women's season The 2021 NRLW premiership was the fourth professional season of Women's rugby league in Australia. The season was planned to start in August 2021, postponed to October 2021 and further postponed to 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Th ...

, playing in all seven matches including the Grand Final victory on 10 April 2022.
In late May, Southwell was named in the 22-player extended squad for the

New South Wales women's rugby league team The New South Wales Women's rugby league team represents the Australian state of New South Wales in Women's rugby league football. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series again ...

, ahead of the women's State of Origin match on 24 June, 2022. She played in the Roosters' 2021 Grand Final win over the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

. On 1 June, the

announced that local junior Southwell had signed to play for the club in the 2022 season. She made her club debut for the Knights in round 1 of the 2022 NRLW season against the

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileSydney Roosters profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southwell, Hannah 1999 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Newcastle Jets FC (A-League Women) players A-League Women players Women's association football goalkeepers Australian female rugby sevens players Australia international rugby sevens players Sportswomen from New South Wales St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players Newcastle Knights (NRLW) players Newcastle Knights (NRLW) captains Footballers who switched code Australian female rugby league players Australia women's national rugby league team players Sydney Roosters (NRLW) players