Chelsea Baker (born 17 March 1986) is an Australian former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played for the

Central Queensland Capras The Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They play in the Hostplus Cup in Queensland, which is a second-tier competition in ...

in the QRL Women's Premiership. Primarily a , she played for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

in the NRL Women's Premiership, winning a premiership with them in 2017, and was a

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

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 Aus ...

representative.

Background

Born in Windsor, Queensland, Baker began playing rugby league for the

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

Wallabys in 2012.

Playing career

In 2015, Baker made her debut for

, scoring a try in a 4–all draw with New South Wales. On 6 May 2016, she made her Test debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, starting on the wing in a 16–26 loss to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. On 2 December 2017, she started on the wing in Australia's 23–16 Women's World Cup final win over New Zealand. In 2018 and 2019, she represented Queensland Country at the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Women's National Championships. In June 2018, Baker joined the

NRL Women's Premiership team and finished the season as the top point scorer in the competition. On 30 September 2018, she started at fullback in the Broncos' 34–12

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final 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. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

win over the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. In 2019, she played all three regular season games for the Broncos but was dropped for their

win over the St George Illawarra Dragons. In 2020, Baker played for the

in the newly established QRL Women's Premiership. In August 2020, Baker, a full-time mother to two children, withdrew from the 2020 NRL Women's Premiership season. Baker captained the

in the 2021 QRL Women's Premiership, primarily playing as a five-eighth. On Friday, November 12th, she announced her retirement from Rugby League.

Achievements and accolades

Team

* 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup: Australia – Winners * 2018 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners

References

External links

QRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Chelsea 1986 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportswomen Australia women's national rugby league team players Australian female rugby league players Brisbane Broncos (NRLW) players People from Gladstone, Queensland Queensland Rugby League State of Origin Women players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Windsor, New South Wales Rugby league wingers Sportswomen from Queensland