Kezie Apps (born 4 February 1991) is an Australian

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 plays as a for the Wests Tigers Women in the

NRLW The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

and the

NSWRL Women's Premiership The NSWRL Women's Premiership, known as the Harvey Norman NSWRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship from Harvey Norman, is the top level of women's rugby league football in New South Wales, Australia. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League, ...

. 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 Aus ...

international and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

representative.

Background

Born in

Bega, New South Wales Bega () is a town in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley. Place name One claim is that place name ''Bega'' is derived from the local Aboriginal ( Thawa language ...

, Apps played her junior rugby league for the

Bega Roosters The Bega Roosters are an Australian rugby league football team based in Bega, New South Wales, Bega, a coastal town of the South Coast (New South Wales), Far South Coast region of New South Wales. The club was formed in 1960 as the result of the ...

alongside current Cronulla Sharks player Dale Finucane. At age 12, she was forced to stop playing due to age restrictions that were in place. Her older brother Deon, played two games for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in 2011.

Playing career

In 2014, Apps returned to rugby league, joining the Helensburgh Tigers women's side. Later that year, she made her debut for

in the annual Women's Interstate Challenge against

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

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 ...

in their Four Nations curtain-raiser against

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 ...

. At the end of the season, she was named the Illawarra Women's Player of the Year and the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

Women's Player of the Year. In 2015, she made her debut for the Women's All Star side in their fixture against the Indigenous All Stars. On 28 September 2016, she won the women's Dally M Medal for Player of the Year at the Dally M awards. In October 2017, she was named in

's 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup squad. On 2 December, she started at second row in the Jillaroos 23-16

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

win over the

. In June 2018, Apps, along with Sam Bremner and Talesha Quinn, were named as the three marquee players for the St. George Illawarra Dragons women's team which commenced playing in the

NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

in September. On 6 October 2019, she captained the Dragons in their 6–30

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 ...

loss to the Brisbane Broncos Women.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

: 2016 *

State Player of the Year: 2014, 2016 Captained NSW to State of Origin win in 2022 St George Illawarra Dragons NRLW Captain 2021 - 2022

Team

* 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup: Australia – Winners

References

External links

St George Illawarra Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apps, Kezie 1991 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportswomen Australia women's national rugby league team players Australian female rugby league players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin Women players Rugby league players from Bega, New South Wales Rugby league second-rows Sportswomen from New South Wales St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) captains St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players Wests Tigers (NRLW) players Wests Tigers NSWRL Women's Premiership players