TEA GARDENS native Lilly-Ann White has come a long way on her rugby league journey.
Since pulling on her first boots as an eight-year-old with the Myall River Hawks, the teenage dynamo has honed her craft in the Hunter Junior League and schoolgirl ranks; mixing it with the world’s best female players in the NRLW premiership.
All eyes are on the quicksilver utility back who has established herself in the top grade as a flying winger with the Newcastle Knights women’s team.
With her power, pace, agility and tricky step,19-year-old White is shaping as a trump card for the Knights in this year’s NRLW competition.
The Australian Schoolgirls and NSW Under 19s representative enters the 2025 season fit and sharp and brimming with confidence after making her top grade debut last year against the Canberra Raiders.
Lilly-Ann was signed on a development contract with the Knights after standout performances for the Raymond Terrace Roosters women’s tackle and Newcastle Tarsha Gale Cup Under 19 teams.
She has scored three tries in seven NRLW appearances and played strongly in the Knights’ 26-12 upset loss to the newly-formed Bulldogs last Friday at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
The shock departure of superstar fullback Tamika Upton to the Brisbane Broncos has opened the door for the versatile White to don the Newcastle number one jumper.
It is the preferred position for the naturally gifted Lilly-Ann, who has a battle on her hands now with experienced recruit Botille Vette-Welsh.
After stints with the Sydney Roosters, St George-Illawarra Dragons, Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers, journeywoman Botille brings crucial leadership and skill to the Knights squad.
A Sky Blues and Australian representative, Vette-Welsh has become one of the premier game-breakers in the NRLW and is locked with the emerging White in a two-player tussle for the custodian role.
Lilly-Ann opened the year in style when she represented the Maori Ferns in a 20-18 loss to the Indigenous line-up in the Women’s All Stars clash at CommBank Stadium.
Selected on the wing, the dashing White nabbed a first half try to help give the Ferns an 18-12 lead at the interval.
Growing up, the talented Lilly-Ann left her mark in the Hunter region as an outstanding junior athlete.
She is a former recipient of the Pat Gehrig Memorial Trophy for Port Stephens Primary School Sports Association Zone Sportsperson of the Year, and showed enormous potential with the Myall River Hawks, Thornton-Beresfield Bears and Raymond Terrace Roosters junior rugby league sides.
She also captained the Bears to the Under 14s Grand Final against Newcastle Wests as a 12-year-old in the inaugural Country Rugby League Combined Women’s Tackle premiership – scoring two tries in a 28-16 loss and finishing as the competition’s leading try-scorer with 17.
Lilly-Ann later tasted premiership success with the Roosters before captaining the Knights’ junior representative squads and being named Tarsha Gale Cup Player of the Year.
She played fullback for NSW Country Under 19s in a 26-18 win over NSW City last season and shone for the Sky Blues in the number one jumper when they hammered Queensland Under-19s 46-4 in a junior Origin showdown at Leichhardt Oval.
Establishing herself in the Knights’ NRLW team is Lilly-Ann’s immediate goal and showing coach Ben Jeffries that she is the club’s long term option at fullback.
By Chris KARAS
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